


By the Moon's Light

by GothAlbinoAngel



Category: Descendants (2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-05-15 10:06:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 21,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5781985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GothAlbinoAngel/pseuds/GothAlbinoAngel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Auradon Prep finds itself the host to a creature every full moon, but there's something far more pressing for the Isle kids to worry about when they find out someone is watching them. And who is the mysterious girl Mal bumps into one afternoon that seems to be everywhere they are?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

The full moon shone brightly overhead, illuminating the entirety of Auradon Prep’s campus except for only the deepest shadows. Not much stirred on the campus aside from the usual nocturnal animals going about their nightly routine. Most of the students were tucked away in their dorms, not wanting to be caught out past curfew for fear of punishment. All was still and peaceful on campus, even in the dorms of the kids brought from the Isle of the Lost.

As the night wore on, a figure moved slowly through the shadows, sneaking quietly and stealthily around to avoid detection as it moved to the windows of the dormitory. Large thick claws flashed momentarily in the moonlight as a large shape lifted itself up the side of the building, climbing easily along the wall. Steering clear of any of the windows for fear of being seen, the shape continued its ascent to the ceiling, stopping only once to peer into one particular room.

Inside, a violet-haired girl was sitting at a table where a blue-haired girl was using a sewing machine, both of them immersed in lazy conversation. Pointed ears picked up parts of the conversation, but the figure could not stray too long lest one of the inhabitants of the room happen to look over and spot it. Continuing up to the roof, the shape sat atop the structure of the dorms and looked up at the bright moon, feeling its chest fill with warmth at the light enveloping it.

Unable to contain the fluttering in its chest, the figure lifted its head and released a loud howl into the air, the sound ringing and bouncing over the otherwise quiet campus. Stopping to take in a few gulps of air, the figure paused when voices sounded from below. Guards had begun assembling from below and were pointing up at them. It seemed the howl had attracted more attention than wanted. Leaping down, the figure took off into the woods surrounding the school, knowing the guards would give chase.

Leading the trailing party in a wide circle, the figure quickly covered its trail, disappearing into the trees as the guards continued searching for a few more minutes. Finally, the guards gave up the chase and returned to the school, informing the headmistress that there was no sign of the strange creature they had witnessed atop the roof. As the headmistress thanked the guards, no one saw a flash of red disappear around the corner to the girls’ dormitory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Disney's Descendants, simply any original characters, the plot and the work itself.


	2. Mysterious Animal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The school is buzzing about the animal sighting the night before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying my hand at doing mystery in this first part since it's an area I lack in. Hopefully, all of you alligators enjoy it!

The school was abuzz the next morning with talk of the strange creature the guards were supposedly chasing the night before. Several of the show offs gave their recount of what they saw happen, which was an embellished tale of not much. Many of the princesses turned to the more outgoing princes who promised to protect them from any beasts that dared come near in the night. The villain kids rolled their eyes as the conversations and speculations flew around their heads during breakfast.

“Did you guys hear that howl last night?” Lonnie asked excitedly as she plopped down at their table with her tray.

“Even if we hadn’t, it’s hard not hearing _about_ it.” Mal shrugged, stirring her yogurt as she read from her spellbook. “This school is so weird, obsessing over a sound.”

“It’s really uncommon for magical creatures to be caught anywhere near Auradon Prep or most major societies in Auradon.” Ben pointed out, sitting beside Lonnie with his own breakfast. “The magical animals usually tend to mind their business away from loud places with a lot of humans.”

“And this is the first occurrence of this happening?” Carlos mumbled through a breakfast sandwich.

“Not the first, no.” Ben replied, digging into his food. “But it’s definitely rare. It gives the princes and athletes a chance to show off for the girls, but the guards usually send the creature back into the woods. What makes this one different-.”

“Is the fact that the creature was spotted on the dormitory roof, howling at the full moon.” Doug intoned as he sat with them. He sometimes joined them at mealtimes on occasion so that he and Evie could catch up and spend time together. “Most creatures don’t have the dexterity to do that unless they are part human.”

This caught the attention of the villain kids and they turned to the Auradonians curiously. “So, there are cursed creatures here in Auradon?” Mal asked, cocking her head at her ex-boyfriend. Ben nodded with a half-shrug.

“Well, I wouldn’t really call them cursed.” He said. “We call them magical because calling them cursed would make people wonder why they aren’t on the Isle of the Lost with the villains. However, these people could have done nothing wrong and the people of Auradon would want them on the Isle just because they were ‘cursed’. It’s not many creatures like that in most societies, sometimes-.”

“Nymphs, satyrs, werecreatures, centaurs and centaur variants, spirits, etc.” Evie piped up from taking bites out of her yogurt while looking through a spellbook of her own. She had found it shortly after the coronation and had been practicing alongside Mal and Jay ever since.

“Yeah, that’s right.” Ben grinned at the blunette. “So the guards were dispatched to make sure the animal wasn’t dangerous.”

“That’s some system ya got there.” Mal murmured. “Makes me happy I practice turning into a dragon in the school dungeons.”

“Yeah, I think seeing a dragon would probably still freak out some people and their families.” Lonnie agreed. “But when you do gain better control, I would love to come down and watch for a change. I’ve never had a creature for a friend except Doug, but he’s only part dwarf…”

“And not even short enough to be considered so since I tend to be taller than even Evie sometimes.” Doug agreed. “I wouldn’t mind picking up shedded scales to examine their properties and help improve your diet.”

“Thanks.” The fairy snorted. “I’ll… keep that in mind. Actually, all of this creature talk would explain what happened last night…”

“What happened last night?” the new king perked up at this.

“Mal sensed something outside of our window last night.” Evie explained, practicing a spell to change color on the bowl she had finished eating from. “By the time we got to the window, though, whatever was there had already gone.”

“If that animal thing was on the roof of the dorms, it _would_ make sense that it could have passed by your window.” Carlos mused, wiping chocolate syrup from his cheek.

“Well, the guards lost the animal in the woods.” Ben assured the two women. “So, either it won’t come back until the next full moon or it’s not coming back at all. So, you probably won’t sense it again.”

Mal shrugged and offered her friend a smile before the group began getting ready to head to class. Jay, who had remained quiet through the conversation due to the copious amounts of food he was shoving in his mouth, escorted Evie to class while Mal accompanied Carlos and Lonnie to their class in the opposite direction. As they were all going their separate ways, none of them noticed the auburn eyes watching them all from the shadows.

…

“Mal, are you sure you sensed something dangerous last night?” Evie asked as the pair walked to lunch from their most recent class.

“E, I’m not saying it was _dangerous._ ” Mal sighed, entering the cafeteria and taking note that someone had spilled their lunch recently. “I’m saying it was _big_ and it was _powerful_. Like… if Ben had gone up against it, even his beast strength he inherited from his dad would have trouble against it. Those guards would have had trouble had the… whatever that animal was been hostile last night.”

“Maybe they could have overpowered it with numbers?” Evie suggested.

“Maybe. E?” Mal looked to her girlfriend worriedly and Evie nodded.

“Yeah, Mal. I’ll be more careful from now on at night. I promise.”

“Good. Come on, I’m starving.” The pair made their way to the buffet table where Jay and Carlos were trying—and failing—not to steal all of the chocolate they could. “Jay, Carlos.” The pair immediately began sulking at the tone of their leader’s voice and put a majority of the sweets back, grabbing somewhat more tangible food as the girls began piling their plates. Mal grabbed as much meat as she could while Evie opted more for vegetation, avoiding the apples when thinking about them reminded her of what her mother had done to Snow White.

Finding a table, the quartet sat down to eat, making light conversation about classes and the boys’ tourney game coming up. Finally, Jay piped up about what he had been wondering all day and his friends noticed the shift in his behavior. Brimming with excitement, he asked, “Do you think that animal thing is going to come back again tonight?”

“I don’t know.” Carlos shrugged. “Ben said it could have just been a full moon thing or it could have just been a one-time thing. It’s doubtful it will come back so soon after the guards chased it, that’s for sure.”

“Man, I hope it comes back soon.” Jay grinned as he punched his fists together. “I really wanna try wrestling it.”

Evie and Mal shared a worried glance and the purplette cut in. “Jay, we know you can take Ben on even when he’s using his beast strength, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to try fighting that animal.”

“Aw, why not?” Jay huffed as Ben and the others entered the cafeteria. “I mean, if I can take on Ben with minor wounds-.”

“Mal says it felt stronger than Ben.” Evie told him softly.

“What’s stronger than Ben?” said boy asked as he came over and draped his arms around Jay’s shoulders.

“We’re talkin’ about that animal that was sighted last night.” Jay told him, allowing Ben to peck his cheek before the lighter brunette settled beside him. “Mal won’t let me fight it.”

“It’s dangerous.” Ben shrugged. “If Mal says no, then it must be.”

“Not _dangerous!_ ” Mal reiterated exasperatedly. “Just _big and powerful_. I don’t want you provoking something you haven’t gone up against before.”

“Then I’ll just take my blade with me.” Jay grinned.

“Jay, no!” Evie gasped, hands flying to her mouth in horror. “Ben said it could be part human!”

“Evie has a point.” Ben agreed.

“You guys are no fun.” Jay grunted, leaning back in his chair and slouching unhappily.

Ben threw an arm around his shoulders and chuckled, looking to the others. “He’ll be fine.”

“What’s all the fuss?” Lonnie inquired curiously, settling down beside Carlos and pecking his cheek as she set an extra chocolate-covered biscuit on his plate.

“We just barely managed to convince Jay not to go off fighting whatever animal it was last night.” The whitette responded, cuddling against her as he munched the treat.

“Isn’t it dangerous?” Lonnie asked, causing Mal to groan and drop her head to the table.

“Not dangerous.” Evie said, stroking her girlfriend’s back. “Just… big and powerful. Powerful enough to give Ben’s beast strength a hard time. Better safe than sorry.”

“I second that.” The preppy girl chuckled as Audrey joined them. “I would hate to see something like that get angry, especially if it could give Ben trouble.”

“Yes, well, I doubt it’s coming back.” Audrey shrugged. “The guards had to have scared it away. No use thinking about stinky, disgusting, probably-teeming-with-ticks-and-fleas-and-other-nasty-forest-bugs animals now. Our campus is once again clean of animals.”

Mal lifted her head and both she and Jay looked to the pink-clad girl in slight irritation. Mal’s horns presented themselves to view as Jay flicked out his forked tongue. Audrey jumped halfway out of her skin and nearly dropped her veggie burger. “Don’t do that!” she borderline shrieked. “You nearly gave me a heart attack. It’s easy to forget you two aren’t completely human, okay?”

Mal smirked mischievously as she leaned against Evie, the blunette supporting her weight easily as she continued chowing into her salad nonchalantly. The group continued on with its meal, talking about random things and letting the mysterious animal from the previous night slip from their minds. When the bell rang, the group parted ways for their classes, none of them spotting those same eyes from before trailing after them longingly before the shadows swallowed them up.

_Maybe soon…_


	3. Contemplation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While the group goes about their mundane business, a mysterious figure seems to be following them.

“I’m telling you, E, he was checking you out and I was just-.”

“Making sure he didn’t try anything funny, I know, Jay.” Evie sighed, walking with her friend toward the dorms.

“Hey, if Mal had gotten to him-.”

“If Mal had gotten to who?” a calm voice asked behind them.

Both turned to see their leader leaning against a wall near the entrance of the dorms, smirking at them. Jay threw an arm around Evie’s shoulders. “No worries, Mal.” He chuckled. “I made sure the prick knew that lil sis was off-limits to anyone not part dragon.”

Mal pushed off from the wall and fist-bumped the thief, wrapping an arm around Evie’s waist. “He didn’t make you uncomfortable, right?” she asked her girlfriend softly, stroking blue locks gently.

“No, Mal, of course not.” Evie giggled quietly. “You know I have tougher skin than that.”

“I know, I know.” The purplette laughed, the two of them waving to Jay as they headed in the direction of their dorm room. “But as your knight in shining scales, I gotta make sure.”

Evie bumped her shoulder with the fairy’s and they made their way down the halls of the girl’s dorms. As they were turning a corner, Evie thought she saw a flash of red nearby. Glancing back, she cocked her head in confusion, unable to make out any discernible shapes. _Must have been a trick of the light._ She thought to herself, continuing after Mal.

As the two women disappeared, a pair of auburn eyes opened in the shadows, the person they belonged to having remained perfectly still in their hiding spot. Breathing a soft sigh of relief, the figure continued trailing the villain kids, keeping to the shadows until they were in their room. Staring at the large wooden door, the figure lowered its head and stole away, not wanting to be caught by anyone passing by.

“How do you think you did on that test in Manners?” Evie asked as she set her bag down by her sewing table.

“Ugh! It was so hard.” Mal muttered. “I mean, seriously, why do I need to know to open the door for every girl I pass? The only person I should be opening doors for is you.”

“That’s so sweet, Mal.” Evie blushed, settling down to continue a new outfit.

“Well, it’s not a lie, since apparently doing that is _bad._ My princess is the only princess that deserves my courtesy, in my opinion.”

Evie simply started her machine, unable to hide the pleased smile lighting her face. Mal smirked to herself and took out her sketchbook, beginning to outline a new piece for her portfolio. There was an advanced art class that she was trying to get into for the next semester and she needed some really good pieces for it. The two women worked in relative silence, occasionally commenting on something the other was doing.

Outside of the window, a shadowed figure sat down below, pointed ears picking up on the various sounds around the girls’ dorms. Hearing nothing of note from the room above, the figure nodded and made to stand. A group of students walked by their hiding spot at that moment and the figure paused, waiting for the students to move on before disappearing along the shadows. Casting one last glance to the window, the figure cocked their head.

_How soon?_

**_…_ **

“I’m telling you, Jay, this new game is awesome!” Carlos called to his roommate. Jay and Ben were cuddling on the bed, doing their homework together while Carlos, having finished his own, was trying out the new game Ben had gotten them a few days ago.

“I’ll play in a minute, Carlos.” Jay murmured, concentrating on the structure of the sentences in the essay he was supposed to be peer-editing for class. “Whoever this is needs to go back to first grade.”

“Jay, be nice.” Ben told him, looking over some of his complex math problems with a frown. “Not everyone can spell as great as you. Just like no one can fix a computer as fast as Carlos or recite the entire periodic table as perfectly as Evie.”

“Or sketch an entire castle in perfect detail as well as Mal.” Carlos chuckled. “I almost swore she was using magic.”

“Doubt it.” Jay snorted. “Mal would die first before soiling the name of her precious art that way.”

“True.” Carlos slammed his fist into an incoming zombie’s head, watching it explode. “Whoa! You’re gonna love it, Jay!”

“It’s not the beast from the full moon, but it’ll do.” Jay sighed, finally finishing up the essay and glancing over to Carlos. “You’ve gotten better at fighting since we got here.”

“Yeah, well, now I can actually practice instead of betting on whether or not I can win against someone.” Carlos pointed out. “You don’t fight on the island unless you can win, remember?”

“Yeah. Like the guy who tried to get Evie in an alley.” Jay snickered. “I didn’t even have time to punch him before Mal slammed his head into the wall and beat him within an inch of his life.”

“That was pretty awesome.” Carlos agreed. “I think that’s when they fell in love, actually.”

Jay thought about it a moment and nodded slowly, saying, “Probably. Mal wouldn’t let E walk anywhere alone for a week. She got beat for it, no doubt, but you couldn’t tell Mal no, even if you are Maleficent.”

“They were that close, huh?” Ben asked. He was always interested to know what kind of things went on when the Rotten Four had been on the island. It helped him gain more insight into how to better the island as much as he could for any kids still over there.

“You could never say it aloud, though.” Carlos responded, nodding as Jay took the game for a spin. “Either Mal would knock you out, Maleficent would knock you out or they would both lay into you for even thinking it. Maleficent knew, but she figured it was something Mal would grow out of once they finally got off the island. They’re both off the island and Mal couldn’t be more head over heels.”

“Got that right.” Ben chuckled, watching the whitette work at his laptop. “I don’t think I ever saw Mal really smile until she was talking to Evie at the coronation to get you all to go against your parents and choose good.”

“Mal doesn’t look it, but she’s just a big softy.” Jay laughed, slamming a zombie in the chest. “Underneath all that tough scale and fire is nothing but the perfect princess’ teddy bear.”

“And you aren’t?” Carlos raised an eyebrow at his best friend.

“Of course he isn’t.” Ben walked over and wrapped his arms around Jay’s shoulders, moving in accordance with his boyfriend’s punches. “He’s the perfect prince’s dream.”

Jay faltered at the words and a zombie got him. “Aw, Ben! You made me lose…”

“Would you like an apology kiss?” Ben chuckled, wrapping his arms tighter around Jay.

“Might need more than one.” Jay smirked.

Carlos simply rolled his eyes as he continued typing away at his laptop.

From below the window, a flash of red disappeared in the fading rays of the sun as the figure headed off toward the forest. _Perhaps I could try tomorrow? No, not then. When? When…? Definitely soon…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's probably off to a boring start, so I'm going to try picking it up a bit.


	4. A troubling thought

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jay is training Ben for the Isle and it gives Mal a worrisome thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the Ides of March (I think) and I'm terrified. But I'm here with a chapter for you all anyway. I also changed the summary a bit since it didn't quite fit with the direction the story was going.

 

“Ugh! I swear, he just won’t shut up sometimes!” Mal groaned as she and Evie strolled into the cafeteria. “All I did was ask _one question_ and it wasn’t even a complicated one!”

“He did seem far more interested than necessary.” Evie agreed, stepping over someone’s spilled lunch with a slight grimace. Mal cocked her head at the fallen tray for a moment before continuing on to the buffet table.

“Maybe I should just keep my mouth shut.” The purplette huffed, piling her plate.

“But then the class would put me to sleep.” Evie pointed out, getting her usual nut and fruit salad. “The only good thing about the class is that I get to hear your voice when you debate.”

Mal rolled her eyes with a smirk and bumped shoulders with her girlfriend as they made their way to their usual table. Conversations rambled around them and there were still some people talking about the creature from a few nights ago. “These Auradonians really don’t have lives if they’re still on that beast. It happened days ago! Can’t they just move on?”

“You’re telling me.” Jay agreed, coming over with Carlos and Audrey. “You’d think they would be over it by now. I mean, I still wanna fight it, but even I’m not _that_ into it.”

“I don’t see why anyone would be interested in fighting some icky, smelly beast anyway.” Audrey huffed, setting her salad down and checking her nails before beginning to eat. “It’s just an animal. All it did was climb a building and howl.”

Mal shrugged and glanced to where Evie was picking at the fruit in the salad, chewing the grapes first. Plucking one, she grinned at the offended brown eyes before holding the grape to her girlfriend’s lips. Evie beamed, feeling her heart flutter. She knew Mal wasn’t into all of this romantic stuff, so the small gestures always made her happy.

Mal mentally gave herself a pat on the back at that smile as Evie snagged the grape between her teeth and took it, her lips just brushing Mal’s fingertips. _Dragon one, handsome prince zero!_ Mal cheered, going back to her food. Ben and Lonnie joined them moments later, beginning to discuss classes. Ben was coaxing a disgruntled Jay to reveal the results of his most recent test while Carlos explained to Lonnie an idea he recently had for his programming class. Mal and Evie simply watched the others, chewing at their food in comfortable silence as Audrey texted away on her phone.

Near the end of lunch, Chad sauntered passed the group, shooting them all a mix between a grin and a sneer, his eyes landing on Evie as they often did. Like always, Mal immediately noticed the gaze and leveled a hard grey stare at the prince, silently daring him to say something. Evie placed a calming hand on Mal’s arm without needing to look up from her salad and Chad simply rolled his eyes and continued on.

“He’s been awful silent recently.” Mal murmured quietly, watching the blonde saunter away.

“Well, most of Auradon is okay with our presence and we’ve befriended Doug, negating him as a target.” Evie pointed out, popping a lush carrot into her mouth. Chewing daintily and swallowing, she added, “He probably doesn’t have anyone to bully anymore because of it.”

“Eves is probably right.” Jay shrugged. “Once you’ve bullied everyone in a space and the others you haven’t get away, you have to find something else to do with your time.”

“Maybe he’s crocheting now.” Carlos snickered, receiving a playful shove from Lonnie. “What? It would be funny. Come on, I’ve got to head to class.” He, Evie and Ben began to stand.

“We still on for endurance practice after school?” Jay asked the king.

“Yeah, of course.” Ben leaned down and wrapped an arm around his boyfriend in a tight embrace. “You said you had some new tricks to teach me to help me block tourney sticks better?”

“You know it, King-man.” Jay chuckled, returning the hug before Ben pulled away and waved to the others before heading off with Carlos and Evie.

Once they disappeared, Mal turned to her best friend and asked, “Endurance practice? That’s not another reason to sneak off and make out is it?”

Jay looked offended and scoffed, “Mal, there’s a thing called _dating_. Once you start doing it, you don’t _have_ to sneak off to make out.” An easy smile curled his lips to soften the sting as he added, “Besides, they’re actual lessons that I created so that Ben can understand what it’s like trying to survive on the island without actually having to, you know, survive on the island.”

“Sounds like something everyone in Auradon should be taught, honestly.” Mal shrugged. “If they put too many toes out of line and they’re softened by this place, they wouldn’t survive at all.”

“How do you figure that?” Lonnie asked curiously, wanting to hear more about the place her new friends had grown up.

“Are you kidding?” Mal grinned. “You people freak out if it gets colder than usual or rainy. Over on the island, _there is no sunlight._ It’s always cold, always rainy and we never get any sun to warm us, so we don’t even have wood to burn fires.”

“Everything except the food and the clothes on our back is metal, pretty much.” Jay agreed, standing and preparing to go to his next class. “Auradonians wouldn’t stand a chance. So, when Ben starts his little diplomatic mumbo jumbo, I want him to be ready for the weather and not going over there in a suit.”

Lonnie nodded in understanding as she and Audrey also stood. “That’s really insightful, Jay. Wish him good luck from me on that training. From what you both are saying, he’s going to need that skill.”

“Yeah.” Jay agreed, waving to Mal and heading off with the pair.

Mal remained where she was, thinking about _diplomatic relations_ between Auradon and the island. _How is the relationship between the kingdoms in Auradon?_ She mused as she picked at her last steak. _Do they get along well? And all of the people outside of the kingdoms, like the nymphs. Maybe the relationship within Auradon should be fixed before Ben starts making actual peace with the island._ A worried frown creased Mal’s brow. _If he doesn’t unify his country before trying to make peace with what is, essentially, a different country, it could have negative effects, like when he brought us over._ Sighing to herself, the purplette shook her head and stood to head to her dorm room since this was free period. _I’ll talk with Evie about it before bringing it up to Ben. I just don’t want him to get in over his head._

As she strode from the cafeteria, another figure followed her in the shadows, casting a wistful look at the buffet table as it tailed the young woman. _What was she thinking about? It seemed important. But that’s not something to ask during a first official meeting, now is it? There must be a way to approach her, to approach **them**. And it must be soon. It cannot wait much longer._

Following Mal to the girls’ dormitory, the shadow watched her stop to look around. Suddenly nervous that they had been spotted prematurely, the figure remained perfectly still within its shroud. The purple-haired young woman gazed at her surroundings for a few seconds longer before shrugging and heading into her room. The figure breathed a sigh of relief and set out deeper into the dormitory, treading cautiously in case anyone spotted it.

_Perhaps a bit of sleep will help my courage…_


	5. Uniting the States of Auradon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mal brings up her worries with Ben.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup, double (possibly triple) update. Hope you enjoy.

“Hey, Mal, you okay?” Evie called, striding into the room. She had just finished with her class and was now on her own free period. When she entered her dorm room, she expected to see her girlfriend getting ready for class, but was surprised to see the fairy in a meditative state.

“I’m not sure, E.” Mal murmured, her eyes fluttering open at the break in her concentration. “There’s something off recently.”

“What do you mean?” the blunette inquired, setting her bag down and climbing onto her girlfriend’s bed. Mal leaned against the headboard and Evie snuggled into her side to listen.

“While I was coming back to the dorm, I felt someone staring at me, and not in the usual Auradonian way.” Mal ran her fingers through her princess’ hair, the gesture soothing her. “It’s like they were staring at me really hard. And they followed me back here. I couldn’t find them, but I know they did because the feeling only disappeared _after_ I was in the room.”

“Do you think someone is stalking you?” Evie asked worriedly, having heard stories from her mother of how dangerous stalkers could be. “Should we talk to Ben about it?”

“I’m not sure.” The fairy sighed. “It might have been a one-time thing, like some curious first year student trying to find out more about me or something.”

The blunette bit her lip and whispered, “M, if it happens again…”

“I’ll go right to Ben and we’ll figure something out.” Mal promised, stroking Evie’s hair to calm her nerves. “I’ve got to head to class.”

“Be careful.” Evie ordered, leaning up to peck her girlfriend’s cheek.

“Hey, I’m the big bad dragon, remember?” Mal chuckled.

Evie beamed at her as she left and strode over to her sewing machine, beginning to work on a new project. Mal glanced around as she exited the room, but the intrusive gaze didn’t seem to be on her this time, so she made her way quickly to class. Thinking about the feeling through her last class, Mal decided not to say anything unless it happened again. Switching her thoughts to something else she wanted to discuss with the current king involving the kingdoms and creatures in Auradon.

Later at dinner, Evie glanced to Mal, silently asking if everything was fine. Mal gave her signature smirk to let her princess know that everything was fine. The blunette gave a relieved smile and glanced to the new program Carlos had installed on his laptop. Lonnie and Audrey were currently texting on their phones and Mal could only guess what they were even talking about. Jay and Ben were discussing the endurance practice from that afternoon and going over what they could work on next time.

“You did well in the cold part, but I think the water threw you off.” Jay was saying. “Which is fine, because I know how that can be. It makes sneaking around really difficult.”

“I think I got better dealing with the sudden lack of clothing, though.” Ben pointed out, referring to when Jay had taken his shirt as a mock-thief. Jay’s grin widened at the reminder and Ben rolled his eyes, shoving his boyfriend’s shoulder good-naturedly. “Thanks to some random thief stealing my clothes.”

“Maybe that random thief _likes_ seeing you shirtless, though.” Jay chuckled, biting into his sandwich as Ben shoved him again.

“Well, still. You weren’t shirtless when you got here.”

Jay scoffed and mumbled around the food, “That’s because _I_ was the best thief on that island. And no one actually walks around without a shirt on. There’s usually a way to find material and make some kind of clothing.”

“People would often bring me material to make them clothes.” Evie piped in, Mal not even having realized she was also listening. “So, no one walks around without clothes, but that never stops them from being stolen right off you.”

“I remember one time, I actually beat someone within an inch of their life for taking the tiara I stole for you.” Jay agreed. “And that time Mal did the same when someone was trying to take Carlos’ jacket.”

“And don’t forget that time I had to grab someone in a choke hold because they wanted your hat.” Mal chuckled. “I didn’t hold it for long, but they knew not to touch the hat afterward.”

“Maybe we should work on fighting next, Jay.” Ben shifted uneasily.

“An _Auradonian_ wants to learn to fight?” Carlos’ jaw dropped, the four villain kids staring at the king in shock.

“Well, I don’t want to be helpless when I get there.” Ben explained.

“Teach him how to run first, Jay.” Mal ordered calmly.

“I’m going to need Carlos for that.” The wizard told her.

Carlos perked up excitedly. “This is going to be fun!”

“Why running?” Audrey huffed.

“And why Carlos?” Lonnie added.

“Because there are just some fights you don’t want to get into.” Evie said softly.

“And on the island, once a fight involving you starts, you have to finish or be finished.” Jay told them lowly. “There’s no running away once the fight has started.”

Audrey’s eyebrows raised in shock. “Isn’t there, like, a forfeit or something?”

Mal shook her head. “It’s survival of the strongest on that island. If you start a fight, be prepared to go all the way. The safest thing to do most of the time is to run.”

“But it sounds like you four fought all the time.” Lonnie pointed out, pulling Carlos close.

“We didn’t.” the whitette explained. “Mal and Jay fought because both of their parents had raised them to fear nothing except their parents. I ran because that was what I was used to doing. Evie stayed inside.”

“All the time.” Evie whispered. Mal glanced to her girlfriend and noticed the haunted look coming to her eyes, the one they all got when remembering some of their worst memories on the island. Immediately, she looked for a subject change and came to the very thing she had been thinking about.

“Since we’re talking about it, Ben, I have a few questions to ask about the relationships in Auradon.” All eyes at the table flicked to Mal and Ben cocked his head in confusion.

“Is something wrong?”

“How are relations between the kingdoms in Auradon?” Mal asked seriously, causing Ben to straighten up and grow serious as well. “And what about the ties between the creature societies and the kingdoms?”

“Why do you want to know about this, Mal?” Ben inquired softly, knowing his best friend had something important on her mind.

“The reason Auradon could defeat the villains was because your dad united the kingdoms, but the kingdoms now have no definite reason to be united like they were when our parents were banished. And if the kingdoms aren’t in compromise or unison with the creature societies, like the nymphs, dwarves and such, then there’s the possibility of an uprising, even over something small.”

“What does all of that have to do with the Isle of the Lost?” Audrey demanded, glancing around nervously.

“You can’t make peace with what is technically a foreign country if your own country is in turmoil.” Carlos explained to her. “The foreign country, especially a place like the Isle, could see it as a weakness and anyone brought over could formulate a plan of attack. Peace between kingdoms and creature societies will make Auradon stronger than if the kingdoms and societies were in dissonance when a possible threat is brought in.” Mal nodded in agreement.

Ben mulled this over for a moment, understanding that his friends were right. But at the same time, he wanted to make things better for people on the Isle as soon as possible.

Evie, seeing some piece of the inner turmoil, said gently, “Ben, we know how much you want to help the people on the island, but not everyone is as easily changed in their ways as we were. Some of the parents over there are actually kind people who just chose the wrong side and were punished for it. Most of the people over there are just trying to live, but if you bring them here, they could be harboring a grudge.

“We know how much helping others means to you, but we also know how much you care about Auradon. Mal just doesn’t want your home to suffer for something in the future that can be prevented now. Auradon has become our home too and we want to protect it.”

Ben sighed with a nod. “Alright, then.” He turned a thankful smile to his friends and Jay threw an arm around his shoulders, squeezing him encouragingly. “Thanks, Mal. I’ll start attending more council meetings and talking things over with my dad. If what you say is true, then I would rather protect our home first.”

Mal simply returned his smile and went back to eating. Dinner was almost over and she still had homework to finish for a subject or two. Evie turned to her girlfriend with a beaming smile while Lonnie ruffled Carlos’ hair. “That was a good plan, Mal.” The blunette whispered.

“The dragon’s job is to keep the princess safe.” Mal reminded her. “And keeping you safe means keeping Auradon safe.”

“Ben’s going to make a great king with friends like you.” Lonnie murmured, wrapping Carlos in a protective hug as he leaned into her for comfort. The earlier conversation about the Isle had mostly faded from their minds, but he enjoyed the warmth Lonnie provided. The warrior-in-training leaned down to kiss the top of his head and freed one arm for eating, keeping the other wrapped securely around her boyfriend.

In the shadows near the doorway, hidden mostly from view, a pair of auburn eyes watched the table in mild curiosity and longing. _Perhaps… I could be that happy too. If I could just talk to them. If I wasn’t so scared…_


	6. Full Moon Happenings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The full moon arrives once more to Auradon Prep.

Days passed and Carlos had joined Ben and Jay for the endurance exercises after tourney practice. Occasionally, Lonnie and Evie would watch them and give Ben water bottles and encouragement whenever he needed a break. Carlos was taking the duty of teaching Ben how to run very seriously and would use Jay as motivation if necessary.

Mal preferred to sketch or paint in the dormitory as opposed to being out in the sun, but she always asked about the workouts during dinner, especially if Evie had been at the exercises instead of in the dorm room with her. At one point, Jay even joked that Evie preferred their company to her own. The blunette was quick to stop her girlfriend from cursing their best friend and gave Mal a _lengthy_ reassurance that Evie always preferred Mal.

As the days neared the next full moon, the school was abuzz with speculation about whether the mysterious animal would be back again. The day before the full moon, all of the princes and lesser nobles donned tourney gear and silver helmets, patrolling the corridors in a show of protecting the student population. By noon, half the student population had been stopped by the ‘patrols’ in a show of keeping everyone safe.

“If they claim I’m going to set something on fire _one more time_ -!”

Evie took Mal’s hands in her own and pressed a quick kiss to the purplette’s forehead. “Mal, you have to stay calm or you _will_ set something on fire.” Rubbing soothing circles into Mal’s hands, she brought the fairy closer. “It’s just a show, an act. They’re doing it to show off, alright? It’ll be over soon.”

“The full moon is tomorrow.” Mal grunted. “They’re going to be doing this for _two days_ , E. If they don’t shut up soon, I might just curse them all.”

“It’ll be fine, Mal.” Ben told her, chowing into his steak. “It’s all in fun. It’s going to blow over soon.”

“It’s prejudice.” The purplette huffed, stabbing her own steak irritably.

“Well, I still doubt the disgusting beast is going to show up.” Audrey sniffed, picking at her salad. “The guards scared it off last time, so they’re just going to do it again.”

“Audrey’s probably right.” Jay mumbled around a mouthful. “Animals don’t return to places they aren’t wanted.”

Mal rolled her eyes and decided that she would listen to her friends for now, continuing to stab at her food. She didn’t care about the werecreature. What magical creatures did on their free time shouldn’t be anyone else’s business in her opinion, but it still gave those stuck up nobles no right to ask about her blowing fire.

The day passed with Mal only threatening to set something on fire once. The next day, the patrols were keen on avoiding the fairy lest she follow through with that threat and Mal chowed into her food happily, stealing a few carrots from Evie’s salad while her girlfriend spoke to Audrey about a new spell she was testing for hair softening. The day passed relatively well aside from the theories about the creature becoming more ridiculous by the hour. The new curfew set solely for the full moon stopped most of the students from even wanting to visit their friends for fear of the creature getting into the building.

“These Auradonians are kinda whimpy.” Jay snickered as he lounged on one of Mal and Evie’s chairs. “All of this fear for an animal and all it had to do was climb a building and make a sound. No wonder our parents terrorized them.”

“Well, they’re probably not used to things like this happening.” Carlos shrugged, concentrating on his laptop. “We don’t hear a lot about the magical creatures in this kingdom.”

“Well, it’s not like we’ve got a class to learn about this.” Evie pouted, envisioning what it would be like to have a class on all of the different creatures inhabiting Auradon.

“Call it what you want, it’s still weird.” Jay shrugged, checking out the window at the rising moon.

Mal simply sat at her easel, painting Evie from a picture she had taken not so long ago. It was better to do things this way rather than have a model sit for hours. As she was putting the finishing touches on the work, a loud snarling and growling sounded from the open window and all of the teens lifted their heads curiously. There were some shouts from the guards of the school and the growling became louder.

Instantly, Jay was up and rushing to the window, eager to see if the beast had returned for the second time. The others rolled their eyes at his excitement, but paid no mind as they were also curious to know what happened to the beast this time around. Sure enough, a silver, fur-covered figure was backing away from a group of guards, their swords brandishing in its direction as they gradually inched forward.

“Whoa!” Jay cheered, watching the guards back the creature into a trap. Surrounding it, all of the swordsmen slowly advanced, the creature growling and snarling defensively. “I have got to get a piece of this action!”

Before any of his friends could stop him, Jay swung himself out the window and began leaping down the building. Mal rolled her eyes and motioned for Evie and Carlos to stay put, hurrying after Jay. She should have known they wouldn’t listen. She could hear the soft sounds of Evie’s heels clicking behind her as her friends followed her out. All three of them dropped to the ground and hurried after Jay, hoping to catch him before he did something too reckless.

Meanwhile, the guards were hesitant to actually attack the creature as they were unsure of the magnitude of its ability. As the creature faced one of side of the circle, trying to find a way out, one of the newer recruits slowly inched his way forward, watching as a cloud drifted in front of the moon. If he moved quickly enough, that cloud would provide enough cover for him to do what needed to be done. The creature turned its gaze to the covered moon and the guard took his chance, leaping forward and sinking his dagger into the creature’s side.

Jay skidded to a halt as a high-pitched animalistic scream of agony rent the air. This gave Mal and the others enough time to catch up and all four of them stared around in shock and confusion as the scream morphed into a roar of fury. Turning their attention to the guards, the quartet watched in horror as the creature stood to its full height and swung at the guard that had stabbed it. He soared over his comrades and landed several yards away, out cold. Without a second thought, the creature charged the other guards, barreling through them as it hurried to get away.

“Man!” Jay groaned. “I was hoping to get a shot at it!”

“Jay, that’s not the issue right now!” Evie cried. “He hurt it! We need to get it help!”

“Come on!” Mal ordered, her bright green eyes glowing in the dark. Evie and Jay lit balls of light in their hands and followed after their leader, Carlos watching their six at the back of the group.

The four students searched around for several minutes, following the tracks left by the creature. Mal occasionally knelt to the ground, using the enhanced vision and smell of her dragon senses to track down the creature. The blood trail was a clear enough indication for the other three and finally, they heard a faint whimpering from behind the supply shed. Slowly rounding the corner, Mal motioned to Jay and Evie, who immediately dimmed their lights so as not to be easily found.

Behind the shed lay the creature, whimpering in pain as it licked at its wound. The discarded dagger lay nearby, covered in blood. At the sound of the group approaching, pointed ears flicked in their direction and the creature snarled defensively, large red eyes glaring at them guardedly. Mal motioned for the others to stay back as she inched forward. If the creature showed signs of becoming hostile, she would have to use her dragon strength to restrain it. As she moved closer, the creature backed away until it was pressed against the shed.

“We’re not going to hurt you.” Mal said softly, holding her hands out in a peace gesture. Red eyes focused behind her and Mal shook her head. Cautiously, she moved forward and held out her hands to the injury. Bright purple magic flowed from her hands and began closing the wound. As her friends watched, the magic slowly worked to heal the gash in the creature’s side.

Just then, the cloud moved from covering the moon and the creature looked up. Moving from beside the shed, the creature pushed passed Mal and stepped into the moonlight, standing to its full height. All of the villain kids watched in surprise as the rest of the injury healed almost instantly. Once healed, the creature turned large red eyes to the group and surveyed them. Dropping back to four paws, it inched closer and reached out to nuzzle Mal’s hand, giving it a quick lick before turning and padding away.

“Be careful.” Evie whispered as the creature disappeared into the surrounding forests.

“I… don’t want to fight it anymore.” Jay coughed, wiping his hands. “After seeing it hurt like that, you know. It kinda wouldn’t be fair.”

“You’re just terrified it would have the full moon as an unfair advantage.” Carlos chuckled, shoving against his shoulder good-naturedly.

“Tch, am not.” Jay huffed.

“Let’s go.” Mal ordered. “We still have school tomorrow.”

“Wait until Ben hears about this.” Jay smirked.

“Yes, wait.” Evie grinned mischievously.


	7. Something Watching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of the previous night reveals in its wake a haunting new discovery.

“You did WHAT?” Ben demanded of his boyfriend, staring at the thief incredulously.

“I just wanted to try battling it.” Jay mumbled, sulking in his chair. “I didn’t actually do anything.”

“Except jump out a window.” Mal intoned, chewing at her egg and sausage biscuit calmly.

“Jay!” Ben huffed. “We told you not to go looking for trouble with that creature! Had the guards not gotten rid of it last night, you could have been seriously hurt.”

All of the villain kids shifted at this and now Lonnie and Audrey took notice of the conversation, looking to the quartet curiously. “What’s wrong?” Audrey scoffed. “Upset that you didn’t get to kill it yourselves?”

“Well, um, about that…” Mal chuckled. “That thing isn’t dead. Pretty far from it, actually.”

“How do you know this?” the king asked slowly.

“We might have gone looking to help it last night.” Carlos coughed awkwardly.

Evie piped in, beginning to go into her own explanation. “From what I can tell by the way it healed when the moon was out, it appears to be a werecreature of some kind. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good enough look at it to tell if it was a specific type of animal, so my best guess would be a werecat of some kind or a werewolf, since those are the only types of werecreatures I know of at the moment that have the dexterity to climb the dorms as that creature did. It’s definitely a werecreature of some kind, though, since the full moon gives it enhanced healing abilities and that’s the only time we’ve spotted it thus far.”

“I’ll have to have the guards increase security around the time of the full moon then.” Ben frowned. “Werecreatures aren’t necessarily dangerous, but they can be really unpredictable and sometimes hostile, so it’s better for students not to go out during those times.”

“Don’t worry, ladies.” A familiar voice said nearby. The table glanced over to find Chad smirking at a table of students. “I’ll be sure to protect you on the full moon. A knight’s duty is to protect the fair maidens, after all.”

Evie rolled her eyes and barely repressed a giggle. “He has no idea just how strong a real knight is.” She murmured, cuddling against Mal as Jay threw an arm around Ben’s shoulders.

“Yeah, I’d like to see him take my Ben on in a real fight.” Jay snickered. “He wouldn’t last a second.”

“And Mal could totally take him without magic.” Evie agreed. “Our knights are way better than anything Chad could have to offer.”

“Lonnie’s got some mad skill too.” Carlos piped up. “She’s been taking lessons from her mom.”

“We have more power in this one table than three of Chad combined.” Evie beamed at her friends. “I would take Mal, Ben or Lonnie protecting me at the full moon over Chad protecting me any day.”

The aforementioned trio simply remained silent through the praise of their partners, Ben and Lonnie with their faces on fire. Mal simply smirked and pressed a kiss to the top of Evie’s head before going back to her spellbook. After a bit more chatter over everyone’s plans for the day and the occasional bemoaning of homework, Mal stood, Evie moving fluidly beside her.

“We should be getting to class.” The purplette said, nodding to Carlos and Jay. “Don’t want to be late.”

Jay hopped up and laughed, “Yeah, cause less detention means more makeout time, am I right?”

Mal simply chuckled and bumped fists with him before the group began moving in separate directions. As she was walking with Ben, Mal paused and glanced around uncertainly. The brunette stopped to look back at her and asked, “You okay, Mal?”

“I’ve been honing my senses recently.” Mal murmured. “I could have sworn someone was just watching me…”

“It’s probably just some random student.” Ben shrugged. “You know how they are.”

“Yeah…” Mal shrugged as well and let the subject drop, not noticing the flash of red that disappeared around the corner in the direction Carlos had gone.

…

“I still can’t believe I didn’t get a chance to fight it.” Jay huffed as he walked down the hall with Carlos and Lonnie. “It would have been so great, but that stupid rookie had to ruin it.”

“I really don’t think it would have been a good idea.” Lonnie told him, her arm around Carlos’ waist. “From what Evie said, that thing would have been more than just a challenge if you had actually confronted it. If it can heal itself in the moonlight and it’s only appeared on full moon nights, then you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Lonnie’s right.” Carlos agreed. “Especially since you haven’t begun practice in healing spells like Mal has.”

Jay huffed and rolled his eyes, freezing for a moment. Lonnie and Carlos glanced to him in confusion, wondering what was up, but the thief paid them no mind. Glancing around carefully, Jay tried to figure out what was amiss. You didn’t become the best thief on an island full of criminals without honing your senses. Someone was watching him, but he couldn’t tell where they were hiding.

“Someone’s there.” He whispered to his friends, gazing at a large shadowy place nearby. He tried making out an outline of any type, but the person, whoever they were, had learned how to hide very well in the shadows. He couldn’t even detect minuscule movements. “They’re watching us.”

“Are they a threat?” Lonnie asked quietly, stepping protectively in front of Carlos as she also zeroed in on the shadows.

“I don’t know.” Jay muttered. “They’ve been watching us for a while. I feel the gaze every now and then. But it’s way intense this time.”

“If they’ve been watching us for a while and haven’t done anything, then maybe they’re just curious about us.” Carlos suggested, peeking around Lonnie curiously.

“Maybe.” His friend stared at the space a little while longer before slowly turning. “Come on, no need to be late.”

As the trio hesitantly continued on their way, a pair of terrified auburn eyes opened in the darkness, reflecting the light slightly. Had the eyes been open while the group was looking, there was no doubt they would have spotted the person trailing them. _They… they know._ The figure tried to calm its racing heartbeat, hurrying off to their own first class. _They know. He’s known for a while. I have no choice now. They know I’m here. I have to talk to them or they might confront me._

Slipping into their seat at the back of the classroom, the figure felt their heart sink sadly, not feeling brave enough to approach the villain kids. _I guess it will have to be tomorrow._ The thought, lying their head down heavily. _I can’t put it off any longer._


	8. Not Out of the Woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group is on high alert for this perceived threat.

“Something was watching you?” Evie gasped, hands covering her mouth at the news.

Classes had ended for the day and the first thing Jay had done was come to the girls’ dormitory to tell his leader what he had experienced that morning. They hadn’t had much time to talk during lunch since Mal had been late arriving and the rest of the table was mostly finished when she got there. Carlos and Lonnie were right beside him while Ben was getting the team ready for tourney practice. Both Carlos and Jay knew that they had to head to practice as well, but they knew that it was important to get this information to Mal as soon as they could. Mal currently had a very concentrated expression upon her face as she thought through the details Jay had relayed to her.

“You say you’ve felt them before today?” she asked slowly, looking to the thief.

“Yeah.” Jay’s jaw was set seriously. “They came and went and it was usually any time after we got out of the cafeteria, as if they were afraid of going in there.”

“There aren’t many shadows in the cafeteria.” Carlos pointed out. “If they were to go in there, it would be easier for you or Mal to spot them while you were eating.”

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Mal inquired, standing from her place and moving to the drawer where she kept her spellbook.

“I could never pinpoint if it was just another Auradonian looking at us or if it was someone actually following us.” Jay explained. “The only reason I decided to come to you about it today was because the gaze is way more intense somehow. It’s almost like we made it more curious after what we did last night or something.”

“If it’s been spying on us, then it probably watched us last night with the werecreature.” Carlos piped in.

“But the creature didn’t detect it.” Evie murmured, leaning on her table in confusion. “If it had, it would have growled or something. Werecreatures are notorious for not liking things to be concealed from them.”

“They probably weren’t there when we found the creature.” Mal said calmly, flipping through her spellbook. “Like most of the other people here, they were probably too scared. But that wouldn’t have stopped them from watching us climb down the side of a building, a renovated castle at that, into a dangerous situation. If Carlos’ speculation is right, they’ll want to watch us more often now.”

“And if they’re hostile?” Jay tensed, not liking the thought but knowing it had to be brought up.

Mal lifted her head to look at all of her best friends seriously, Lonnie having remained beside the door. “Then we revert back to the Isle. For Jay and I, hostility is met with hostility. For Evie and Carlos, _run._ I don’t care about magic or ‘people skills’, I don’t want you two in danger. And all of you, stay away from the shadows.” Glancing to the Asian girl shifting beside the door, Mal pinned her in a stern stare. “That includes you, Ben and Audrey. Stay away from the shadows. We can’t be certain that this person is only following the four of us and we don’t want them targeting the people closest to us.”

“You got it, Mal.” Lonnie nodded.

“Ben and I will have to talk about this tomorrow.” Mal sighed. “From now on, none of us go anywhere without a partner unless absolutely necessary. We’ll walk each other to classes and meals and sporting events if necessary.”

“Whoa, isn’t that a little overkill?” Lonnie asked. “I mean, there’s not much trouble that can happen in Auradon.”

“We grew up on an island full of thieves, murderers and other vile people.” Carlos told her softly, placing a hand on her arm. “When Mal brings out the protective procedures, it may seem like overkill, but it’s always to keep us safe.” Lonnie nodded in understanding.

“Alright. Until we can talk to the others at dinner, Lonnie, you stay with Jay and Carlos. Jay, Carlos, practice.” The trio nodded and waved goodbye, heading for the tourney pitch. Mal turned to Evie and he blunette immediately stood, moving to sit beside the purplette on the latter’s bed. Bringing Mal in close for a hug, she stroked the violet tresses comfortingly.

“It could be a threat.” The statement was said matter-of-factly, but Evie nodded all the same. “We could be in danger again.” Once more, it was simply a statement and once again, Evie nodded. “I don’t know how to fight this one.” Instead of nodding this time, the princess lowered her lips to the top of her girlfriend’s hair in a gentle reassuring kiss.

“Mal, it doesn’t matter how we have to fight it.” She whispered soothingly. “All that matters is that we won’t be doing it alone. _You_ won’t be doing it alone. We have Ben and Lonnie with us. And this is Auradon, this isn’t the Isle and this isn’t our parents. We can do this and we’ll do it together.”

Mal released a shaky sigh, the only sign that she had been nervous about the previous three statements. “Thanks, Evie.”

“What are girlfriends for?” the blunette giggled, placing another kiss to her own girlfriend’s hair.

That night at dinner, the group all quietly discussed the possible dangers that this person trailing them could pose and Ben and Mal reiterated that no one is to go anywhere alone and all of them needed to stay away from the shadows. Ben agreed Mal on this point, knowing from the group’s stories that the precautions were necessary on the Isle and could still be necessary in Auradon. The teens all went to bed edgy.

Mal stayed close to Evie the following day and Jay wouldn’t let Ben out of his sight unless they were in separate classes. Carlos accompanied Lonnie and Audrey to their own classes before making his way swiftly to his own. He was the only one Mal trusted to walk to classes on his own because he was fleet-footed and wouldn’t waste time getting there. The villain kids were on high alert, all of their senses open for any sign that their stalker was going to attack.

By midday, they had relaxed somewhat from their defensive positions, but none were keen on letting up just yet in case they were caught unawares. That was _not_ something any of the island kids were interested in. Mal and Carlos met up with Evie and Jay on the way to lunch and Mal glanced to Jay expectantly.

“I haven’t felt the presence all day.” Jay informed her, strolling along beside them with Carlos bringing up the rear of the group. “And I walked through some of the shadows. Nothing.”

“I thought the plan was to _stay away_ from the shadows.” Mal huffed, rolling her eyes. She should have known he wouldn’t listen. Jay _lived_ for danger.

“Well, even so, there was nothing in them, so no danger. You think they know we’re on to them?”

“If they had been spying on us for a while, they were probably doing it last night.” Evie pointed out. “So, that would mean that they would know that we had noticed them.”

“In cases like this, usually they might lay off for a few days to get us to let our guard down.” Carlos piped in. “Then they would be right back at it so that we don’t suspect them.”

“Then we’ll just have to keep our guard up.” Mal smirked, straightening her shoulders in the ever-confident way that had helped her become their leader.

Of course, even a leader can’t see around a corner without first turning it.

“Oof!” Mal stumbled backward into Jay as the person she had collided with toppled to the floor from their collision.

“Sorry about that.” The girl on the ground mumbled, struggling to her feet and checking Mal over worriedly. “I wasn’t watching. Are you okay?”

The four villain kids took in this strange person. It was a young woman with long, scraggly and limp jet-black hair with red streaks through it. Bloodshot auburn eyes peered up at them from a greyish-pale, slightly sunken face. Thick purplish bags hung beneath the woman’s eyes, but her thin lips were pulled up into a slightly worried smile. The rest of her was a mystery as her entire person was shrouded in some kind of red blanket or something.

“Who are you?” Mal huffed, standing straight and brushing herself off.

“I’m Scarlet, a second year.” The woman shifted nervously and looked up at the taller teens. It was about then they all noticed that she was quite small, shorter even than Carlos. “I’m sorry for bumping into you.”

“It’s fine.” Mal shrugged, moving past Scarlet calmly.

“Be sure to watch where you’re going from now on!” Carlos called as he followed his friend.

“No more getting hurt, kiddo.” Jay added with his signature smirk, Evie giving a beaming smile as they all disappeared around the corner.

Scarlet simply sighed and continued on her way, tugging her cloak around her shoulders protectively.

“That was kind of weird.” Jay muttered as the group continued on.

“Did… did she look a little unhealthy to you?” Evie mused. “It looks like she hasn’t had a proper meal in days, possibly weeks.”

“Yeah, but she’s probably just stressed.” Carlos shrugged. “I’m a second year and the work is pretty tough. I’m only alright because I have you guys. Auradonians don’t seem the type to really look out for one another.”

“I hope she gets some proper sleep soon.” The blunette murmured, biting her lip worriedly.

“Don’t worry about it, E.” Mal told her, slinging an arm around the taller woman’s waist. “It’s probably just a temporary thing. She’ll be back to normal in no time. This _is_ Auradon, after all. Everyone here loves having perfect skin, perfect hair, yadda yadda.”

“Mal’s right.” Jay agreed, the three of them finally arriving at the cafeteria. Mal’s eyes searched around and she found the ever-present evidence that someone had spilled their lunch. If not for the change in food and slight shift in placement, she would think that cleaning staff simply ignored it. _Wonder who keeps tripping._ She thought, heading over to the buffet.

The four friends grabbed their meals and headed over to their usual table, settling down as Evie began talking with Carlos through the difficult math equations he was currently learning in class. Jay and Mal pondered with one another over where to go for their next Saturday raid. They called it a raid, but naturally, nothing too valuable was stolen and the only damage done was Mal’s graffiti. Ben had insisted they stop for some time, but after seeing how grumpy and restless both became when denied their favorite activity, he had relented a bit.

Speaking of, Ben sauntered over and slid next to Jay as Audrey and Lonnie arrived seconds later. Jay shot his boyfriend a smirk and Ben gave him the usual beaming smile before the two of them dug into their food, occasionally sharing to mix and match tastes. Mal rolled her eyes at them as she heard Audrey talking to Evie about something that had to do with hair. Looking to her best friend, she asked, “Any encounters with the strange presence that’s been following us?”

“Nope.” Ben replied after swallowing. “We stayed away from the shadows like you said and Audrey and Lonnie came to get me so that I didn’t walk here alone after my class. Nothing unusual.”

“Us neither, but Carlos and Evie say that if they were spying on us when we were talking about it last night, then they won’t follow for a few days to make us let our guard down.”

“Then we’ll just keep our guard up.” Ben shrugged.

“That’s my thoughts too.” Mal smirked, digging into her steak. Looking to Evie’s salad, she swiftly nicked a carrot while the princess wasn’t looking. However, she was surprised to find that one of steaks was missing when she looked back to her plate and glanced up to find Evie shredding pieces of it into her salad. Shaking her head, the fairy simply chewed the carrot and listened to the conversations around her.

“… was the easiest thing I ever stole.” Jay boasted, crossing his arms happily.

“I thought you said the easiest thing you ever stole was my heart?” Ben chuckled, giving his boyfriend a look of mock-hurt.

“Well, I mean, that too.” Jay wrapped an arm around Ben’s shoulders as Lonnie and Carlos snickered at him. “But that was still a _little_ hard while you and Mal were still together.”

“So I come in second?” Ben pouted, giving his version of puppy-dog eyes to the thief. Lonnie hid her face in Carlos’ jacket as Jay flailed around for something to say.

“Of course not!” Jay exclaimed finally. “I mean, the necklace, I gave back after I stole it. The mark of a true thief is that he keeps his prize and as you can see…” he leaned down to peck Ben’s cheek with a smirk. “I still have your heart. So you always come first.”

Mal was mimicking vomiting at the other side of the table while Lonnie and Carlos burst into hysterics at the display. Audrey simply rolled her eyes while Evie paid the entire thing no mind and continued her salad. Finally, lunch ended and the group split up, Ben being a gentleman and escorting Evie to class while Mal headed off with Audrey to their next class. As Audrey talked to someone on her cell, Mal tried to think of who could possibly be following them. Suddenly, her eyes widened, but she forced herself not to stop and kept walking beside the drama queen, not wanting to seem out of the ordinary, but she knew something was wrong.

She had felt the presence again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would simply like to point out that, since I don't have a definite thing to call Scarlet, I will sometimes refer to her as a brunette-redhead. Just a heads-up.


	9. Something Nice?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Audrey's actually doing something nice and the VKs encounter Scarlet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's been a while, but that's only because I'm working on continuing some OLD fanfictions. You'll see more of this fic more often now.

“This waiting is killing me.” Jay sighed, picking at his breakfast the next day. “If they’re evil, I wish they would just hurry up and get on with their master plan already.”

“Jay, you know evil is patient.” Mal huffed, also picking at her food. “My mom raised me for sixteen years just so I could free her from the island. If the full moon comes around and we’ve neither felt them nor had any kind of strange run-ins since then, we’ll go back to our old routine. Until then, better safe than hurt.”

“Mal’s right, Jay.” Ben agreed, chowing into his eggs. “We need to keep a watch and look out for each other. We don’t know what the person watching you four is after, so it’s just better to not provoke it yet. Besides, I like you better when you aren’t missing a limb.”

Jay rolled his eyes at his boyfriend, reaching over to pluck a piece of sausage from Ben’s plate. Mal’s eyes noticed the movement and she smirked at him. Jay stuck his tongue out at her, popping the sausage in his mouth.

“Well, we don’t know if they’re even evil yet.” Lonnie pointed out. “They could just be a person interested in the Isle kids without wanting to provoke you.”

“We’ll either know after the next full moon or we won’t.” Carlos shrugged, looking over his homework as he shoveled yogurt with chocolate chips into his mouth. “For now, I really don’t think we should worry about it. It’s best to do what Mal says and continue about our lives that way.”

“But needing to have someone with me all the time could do damage to my rep.” Audrey groaned, crossing her arms as she held her phone aloft, waiting for a message back. “Besides, I have plans this coming Friday and I can’t have any of you being around to screw it up.”

The others perked up at this news. “Plans?” Lonnie cocked her head, eyes alight with curiosity.

“Yes, _plans._ ” Audrey snarled. “Plans that none of _you_ are invited to.”

The group watched the princess a moment before Mal and Ben shared a glance and a nod. “It’s a date, isn’t it?” Ben asked.

“Actually, for your information, it’s _not._ ” Audrey snapped. “I’m taking Jane out for a night on the town with some of my friends.”

Now _this_ caught the group off guard. “ _You’re_ taking Jane on a girls’ night out?” Mal exclaimed, raising an eyebrow.

The daughter of Aurora rolled her eyes. “Why do you sound so surprised? It’s just a way to help her feel more confident.”

“Why?” Jay asked, finally beginning to eat.

“Because her taking that wand and letting Mal’s mom off the Isle was… kinda my fault.” Evie glanced to her girlfriend to see Mal’s eyebrows furrowed in concentration. “Look.” Audrey sighed. “I’m not the most… selfless person around, but I do take some blame and to avoid anymore of the big mean nasties from the Isle getting loose and wreaking havoc on our lives—not to mention my hair—I figured that getting Jane comfortable with herself would be a good idea.”

“Wow, Audrey.” Ben grinned at his ex-girlfriend. “I’m really proud of you.” He turned his attention to Mal. “How does this fit into the plans?”

The purplette shrugged and said, “So long as Audrey’s with someone, I really don’t think it’ll be too bad. Give Jane my regards.”

“Will do, Dragon Girl.” Audrey replied, lifting her phone as it buzzed.

“So, Audrey’s weird burst of kindness aside, what do we do when the full moon comes around and we haven’t heard nor seen any suspicious activity?” Doug inquired of Mal.

“Then we go back to the way things were. But only _if_ nothing has happened between now and then.” Gray eyes narrowed on the group and they all nodded.

Finishing up with breakfast, they all parted ways, heading in different directions for their classes. A fleeting flash of bright color caught Mal’s eye, but when she turned to look, it was gone. Shrugging, she figured it must have been someone’s backpack or a random trinket catching the light. Heading to class, she wondered how she was going to deal with the presence if it turned out to be a threat. Something told her that killing to protect her family would be frowned upon in Auradon (ironic considering the things they’ve done). Perhaps taking a peaceful approach first might be the best option.

Meanwhile, in biology, Carlos glanced around, trying to be subtle as he attempted to see if there was anyone watching him here. Catching a glimpse of red, he turned to find that girl from yesterday, Scarlet, with her head down on her desk. There was no one sitting next to her, but not all of the other students had arrived yet. Glancing to the girl, Carlos noticed that she seemed… tired. Not in the ‘up all night studying’ sense, either. There was probably something going on back home stressing her out. Plenty of the girls around Auradon Prep would be fretting for days over familial affairs, so maybe not sleeping was Scarlet’s way of trying to get through a problem.

Turning back to the front, Carlos took out his notebook and flipped to a new page to be ready to take notes when the teacher arrived. He didn’t notice the pair of eyes that flicked to him momentarily before being redirected to the desk in front of them. Classes soon started after that and everyone was swept away in them. Ben, Mal, Lonnie and Jay were the only ones allowed to walk to classes on their own because of their fighting ability, so they would walk the others to their classes before heading to their own if they shared separate ones.

Before any of the group members knew it, lunchtime was upon them. They all headed to the cafeteria to grab lunch and Mal took stock of that day’s spilled lunch. It was mostly comprised of meats with a small plastic cup having been filled with nuts. Someone must have been trying to stock up on protein, but failed. Once this whole stalker fiasco was over, Mal was going to put a conscious effort into finding out who dropped the food every day and why. Having grown up on the Isle, she knew how valuable food could be and for someone to be so reckless as to drop it every single day was almost insulting.

Everyone headed outside to eat today, since the sun was shining nicely. Despite this, Mal still chose a table in the shade, pointing out how easily she would burn with Carlos’ agreement. They all chatted about classes and where Audrey was taking Jane on Friday, not wanting to bring up the mysterious presence while not in the one place the presence seemed not to follow them.

Lunch finished early with Ben and Lonnie accompanying Doug and Audrey to class, waving to the villain kids. Mal turned to her girlfriend to find Evie reading from Mal’s spellbook, looking through the easier spells. Glancing to where Carlos was showing Jay some weird movie trailer on his laptop, Mal finally turned her gaze to the sky, enjoying the warmth of the day without getting an actual burn. It was pretty tranquil between the four of them, just enjoying each others’ company.

And, of course, that tranquility had to be broken.

“Hey, check it out! It’s the dragon!”

“What’s up, dragon? Wish you could be soaring up there instead of chained down here?”

Mal grit her teeth together as she lowered her head to find a group of first years snickering in their direction. Immediately, Evie’s head snapped up, eyes glowing slightly red with the magic she had been practicing. Jay also turned to look in the direction of the girls, lip curling into a snarl as he moved to stand beside Mal.

“Aw, the big bad snake and the old crone are going to defend her.” One of the girls laughed.

“Wow, that’s so clever.” Carlos snorted, not even looking up. “References to our parents, how intelligent of you.”

“At least _our_ parents are well-known enough for people to know us.” Jay retorted, crossing his arms with a smirk. “Let me guess. Your parents were servants in Cinderella’s castle?”

“How dare you?” one of the girls snarled. “My dad is next in line to be the Duke of Weselton!”

“Ooh, bravo.” Evie deadpanned. “Next in line to a regicidal country. How spectacular.”

“Why don’t you go back to your stupid island?”

“Why don’t you get lost before a frog prince comes along and gives you warts?” a voice snarled from not too far away. All turned to find Scarlet standing nearby, glaring at the first year students with a frown.

“What are you going to do about it, Tiny?” one of the girls snickered.

“I could always stink bomb your makeup kit.” The brunette-redhead retorted, taking a threatening step closer. “Shall we see if any prince will have you when you smell like a skunk’s nest?”

The group gasped in horror and hurried away, shooting glares back at the cloaked woman. Scarlet released a soft breath, relaxing her body from its tensed state. She didn’t like seeing other people get bullied. As the students hurried away, she turned to the group with a small smile.

While the others watched the Auradon kids take off, Evie surveyed Scarlet, noting just how much her health had declined since they last saw her. She was smaller than before and her cheekbones were becoming clearly defined with how tight her skin was clinging to her bones. _Is she ill?_ The blunette wondered in concern. _Maybe I should keep an eye on her…_

At last, the other villain kids turned to the black-and-red-haired woman and appraised her a moment. Finally, their leader stepped up to the shorter woman and stared down at her. “Look,” Mal sighed, crossing her arms. “For future reference, you really shouldn’t defend us. Not everyone in Auradon is going to be okay with us here-.”

“Even if we did save them from a dragon.” Jay grumbled angrily.

“So it’s better to protect your reputation.” Evie piped up.

“Why not go off to your other Auradonian friends and try not to defend us again?” Mal huffed, rolling her eyes at her friends. “It’ll keep you safer that way. Besides, we can take care of ourselves.”

“Bye Scarlet!” Carlos chuckled as they all headed out to their next class. Scarlet watched them go with a small frown on her lips. After a moment, she turned and continued on across the grounds.

Evie chewed her lip as she glanced back to see the red cloak disappearing behind them. She really was beginning to worry about the younger student. Why did she always look so tired any time they saw her? Was she not sleeping well? And she was always covered up; was she cold?

“Still can’t believe Audrey of all people is doing something nice.” Jay murmured, soaking in the sun as they made their way back toward the school.

“Yeah, and for Jane no less.” Mal snickered. “Who knew?”

“We’ll have to ask them about it when they get back.” Carlos suggested. “I wouldn’t put it passed Audrey to say something that just ends up making Jane feel worse.”

“Well, what can you do?” the leader shrugged. “She _is_ the daughter of Aurora.”

“Coming from the good daughter of Maleficent.” Jay chuckled, nudging Mal’s shoulder as they began separating.

Mal rolled her eyes and said, “I was _tested_ to see if I could be different from my parents. The Auradon kids don’t have to go through tests like that.”

“As if they’re automatically good just because of their parents.” Evie muttered, flashing back to her encounters with Chad.

Mal’s lip curled, as if she knew where Evie’s thoughts were. “Yeah, well, I say that being tested and passing is better than not being tested at all.”

“Proves we’re stronger.” Carlos agreed, striking some pose from a random videogame as his friends laughed.

“Come on.” Evie giggled. “We should get to class. The last thing we need is Fairy Godmother thinking we’re skipping out.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Jay shrugged.

“Won’t be the last.” Mal smirked, following after her girlfriend as the boys headed to their class.

From the shadows, a pair of eyes watched them separate. Staying hidden a moment longer, the eyes slowly closed and the person they belonged to slipped away.


	10. A Relaxed Day Off

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group spends some off time together without too much thought to the presence watching them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, all! Forgive me for how long I've been away. Chapters eleven, twelve and thirteen have actually been completed since I began writing this fic, but I couldn't figure out how to make nin connect with eleven (meaning, writing chapter ten was HARD). However, hopefully, you will still enjoy this little effort of mine. Read on!

“Mal, it’s already Saturday.” Jay groaned, his head falling onto the breakfast table. “We haven’t seen or felt anything _all week._ ”

“Sixteen years, Jay.” Mal reminded him calmly, used to this kind of behavior. Despite being a thief, Jay wasn’t the most patient of people. It had gotten him into plenty of trouble in Auradon, where things weren’t as quick to happen and there was less of a likelihood of someone spotting him hiding in the shadows. On the Isle, impatience often saved skin because less people were likely to show up if the job was done quickly. And there was less of a need to be meticulous about details, too. Sometimes, it was possible to steal something from right in front of someone.

However, they were in Auradon now. And the threat coming against them was most likely Auradonian. That meant they needed to be careful and not take too many risks. This meant waiting until the next full moon before even thinking about walking near the shadows again.

Jay groaned as Ben and Audrey showed up to the table. Surprisingly, Jane also accompanied them, but some other girls called to her, so she waved goodbye to sit with them. This perked Jay up enough to make him forget, if briefly, about his current complaint.

“So, how did yesterday’s outing go?” Evie asked Audrey casually, chewing at her bowl of fruit as she changed a girl’s hairstyle across the cafeteria.

The pink-clad princess shot a glance up at the blunette briefly before going back to buffing her nails. “Not bad.” She drawled. “The girls and I took Jane out for a proper makeover and then we spent some time shopping for her wardrobe. It turned out pretty well, in my opinion. It’s absolutely amazing what some extensions and a better dress can do.”

“Sounds prissy.” Mal and Jay muttered at the same time, the former receiving a jab from her girlfriend.

“Maybe I can come next time?” Evie asked hopefully as she experimented with the color of a girl’s outfit on the other side of the room.

Audrey shrugged nonchalantly and murmured, “I don’t see why not. If Mal’s alright letting you out of her sight for that long, anyway.”

Immediately, pouty pink lips and large brown eyes turned on the fairy who had meticulously begun reading her spellbooks a split second before. The entire table waited for the stare down to end, Jay and Carlos silently taking bets on who would back down first. There were a few seconds of silence before Evie whimpered, “Mal-.”

“Okay!” the violette groaned, dropping her head to the spellbook in defeat. “But you better take your defensive spellbook with you when they go. I want a call the instant you’re in trouble.”

Evie beamed down at her girlfriend and placed a thankful kiss to the purple locks. “When do you go, Audrey?” the blue-clad woman chirped, going back to her fruit bowl.

“Next week.” Audrey didn’t even look up as she responded. “Saturday. Meet in front of the school at eleven.”

“At night?” Mal perked up at this. If it was a night trip, she wouldn’t mind tagging along to cause some mischief.

“In the morning.” Both princesses responded calmly, dampening the fairy’s mood.

“Never mind.” The purplette grumbled.

Evie chuckled and stroked her girlfriend’s hair affectionately. “A princess must always look her best, Mal. That means getting up early in order to shop for a wardrobe.”

“And get hair done.” Audrey added.

“Well, _your_ hair, maybe.” Evie muttered.

Jay snickered softly at the jibe and explained for Lonnie and Ben, “No one touches Evie’s hair except Evie. Touching her hair is cause for her to kill you, regardless of whether or not she gets sent back to the Isle.”

“Mal touches her hair all the time, though?” Lonnie pointed out, looking to the pair quickly. “Evie lets her brush it, comb it, whatever…”

“That’s not touching.” Mal told her. “That’s grooming. It’s the dragon in me wanting to dote on my fabulous mate. I am meticulous with each strand of hair, careful not to break anything off. Grooming is different than touching.”

Ben shook his head in bewilderment at the Isle kids and glanced to the door as students began making their way out. “Well, would any of you like to spend some time outside before we have Tourney practice?”

“We could always just spend the time outside _watching_ your Tourney practice.” Mal smirked.

“In order to do that, I need to grab sunblock.” Evie stood, brushing her skirt off as Mal rose beside her.

“We’ll meet you guys out on the field.” Mal called, following the blunette.

Heading to the dorm, the two women grabbed sunblock, an umbrella and their respective hobbies before heading out to the bleachers that overlooked the Tourney field. Mal propped her sketchbook on her lap as Evie took up her crotchet needles, both waiting for the others to arrive. Jay, Carlos, and Ben arrived a little after they did, clad in full Tourney gear like the rest of the team. Lonnie joined the girls a little later, happy to watch the practice without the distraction of something else.

It was pretty peaceful for a Saturday. No one who stopped by to watch the practice threw any scathing remarks at the Isle kids and Lonnie did her best not to jostle Mal or Evie, for fear of either or both of them stabbing her eye out with one of their utensils. The team broke for break around noon and the group reconvened on the pitch. Lonnie and Ben headed for the dorms to take a quick wash before they had to return. The villain kids saw no point in doing so since they would be back out there anyway. Instead, they all headed for the cafeteria, Carlos and Jay absolutely starving.

“I think you were doing fine until you slammed into Chad.” Mal chuckled, bumping Jay’s shoulder. “I mean, kudos for it being Chad, but points off for sending you both to the ground.”

The group laughed at the jibe, knowing that, given the chance, any of them would body slam Chad into the ground themselves. As they were rounding the corner, a somewhat familiar flash of bright red caught Evie’s eye. The blue-haired princess stopped and took a look around in confusion. The others took notice of their friend’s hesitation and Mal moved closer to her girlfriend. “Hey, E, you alright?”

“Y-yeah…” The blunette stared around again, wondering if she had been mistaken. “I just thought I saw…”

“Hey, are you having nightmares again?” Mal asked worriedly. “Your mom can’t get to you here, Evie. We’re safe, okay?”

Evie decided to hold her tongue about what she actually meant, not wanting to worry her friends further. “Yeah, okay.”

“Come on, let’s grab some grub.” Jay called, heading for the cafeteria excitedly. “I’m starving.”

“Same.” Carlos agreed. “Especially if we want to have enough energy for the tourney game Tuesday.”

The quartet strode into the cafeteria calmly, glancing around at all of the food on display for the day. As usual, Mal’s eyes zeroed in on the same spot and found the food dropped. She grit her teeth, but let it go. She could investigate another time. For now, she was just as hungry as her friends.

Evie also noticed the food, as she had for quite some time. The princess hadn’t paid as much mind to it as her girlfriend, but it still worried her. Perhaps a bad luck spell had struck someone recently and they were unable to have a tray? If so, there could be someone starving in the school. She hoped they were okay.

Shaking the thoughts from their minds, the core pair of the villain kids grabbed their food and headed to a table with their friends. Mal took a quick look around the room to be sure no one was watching them more than usual before she settled for relaxing. Just because the cafeteria was the one place they hadn’t felt the presence didn’t mean the person trailing them couldn’t turn up briefly at any time.

Every kid raised on the Isle knew how important it was not to let their guard down. Even Auradon and Goodness classes couldn’t beat that out of them.


	11. Astonishing Outfits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Isle kids discover something interesting about Scarlet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can't remember if I've said this already, but brunette-redhead is something that I'm going to use to refer to Scarlet because she's got black and red hair, 100% natural, of course.

The next week seemed to fly by. Everyone was busy in one way or another. Mal had to work on an art project to present to her Basic Drawing class, Evie needed to study for a chemistry test, Ben had kingly duties to attend to, Lonnie had training with her mother every other day and Carlos and Jay both had Tourney practice after school. Audrey… did whatever she usually does. Before anyone knew it, Thursday had come without any warning.

“Can you believe this week?” Mal groaned at lunch, chewing at her thumb as she stared at her sketch page. For once, she had brought it with her instead of her spellbook. “I’ve barely had time to sleep, let alone finish this sketch.”

“Mal, we know that any time you draw Evie, it’s going to be phenomenal.” Carlos told her calmly, chewing at his bacon as he went over some notes for his English class. “You _always_ get every detail right, all the way down to her tiny dimples.”

“We, on the other hand, are killing it at Tourney practice.” Jay mumbled tiredly, his head on the table in some semblance of rest.

Mal rolled her eyes at his statement. “Yes, because _somehow_ sports are **harder** than the arts.”

“Really?” Lonnie asked in confusion, looking up from where she was glancing over Carlos’ shoulder.

Evie paused to clarify, “Sarcasm,” before popping a grape in her mouth. Lonnie nodded in understanding and went back to looking over Carlos’ shoulder as Jay and Mal decided not to get into an argument over sports vs. art.

“Still, Mal is kinda right.” Ben chuckled, rubbing his boyfriend’s back soothingly. “This week has been kinda hard on all of us. Why don’t we take this weekend to relax a little? Maybe hang out on the quad?”

“That would be nice.” Evie murmured, chewing a banana slice speculatively. “It’s supposed to be warm Saturday, so maybe we could just soak up some sun.”

Mal grimaced at the thought of soaking up sun, glancing between her pale skin and Evie’s tan. _Stuck inside for nine years and still tan. That’s not dedication. That’s downright skill._ “We’ll work on that second part, but spending some time outside would be good for all of us.” She cast a look to where Jay had barely moved to eat and chuckled, “It’ll help the guys smell the fresh air without the mix of sweat and pain.” Jay grunted in response.

“Maybe we should head to the dorm to rest.” Evie sighed, leaning her chin on her hand as she stared at her chemistry textbook. “I’m doing well in the rest of the classes I have today and Jay looks ready to die.”

“Usually, I don’t condone skipping class,” Ben began uncertainly, casting a sidelong glance to his boyfriend sympathetically. “However, in this instance, I think Evie is correct. You all need rest and stressing out will negatively impact your performance.”

“Thanks, Ben.” Mal told him with a small smile. “We’ll see you for dinner, alright?”

The king nodded and watched the quartet stand and make their way toward the doors. Once clear, Jay straightened up slightly, not wanting the entire school populace to see him looking so weak. The group began their trek to the dormitories, making certain to avoid the shadows, which served to irk Jay more than usual.

“I still don’t see why we gotta continue hiding.” He grumbled wearily. “We’ve always been the top dogs. Even when we came here, the Auradon kids were terrified of us.”

“And rightly so.” Evie interjected calmly.

Jay nodded to her and continued, “So what’s the bother with all the pretense? This is Auradon; not much point in keeping together if they can catch any of us off guard just by knowing the place better.”

Mal turned to him in exasperation and slipped slightly on the tiled floor. Everyone saw a quick flash of red move to the side before Mal righted herself. The group turned to find Scarlet standing off to the side nervously, having moved out of the way as Mal fell in order to avoid their first meeting. What took the villain kids by surprise was the fact that Scarlet’s cloak had come open with the swift movement and her attire was somewhat visible to them.

“Why are you dressed like that?” Mal snorted.

“Like what?” Scarlet asked in confusion, turning fully to face them.

“Like you’re… from the Isle of the Lost.” Jay’s lip curled as he examined the outfit.

“It’s not very stylish, but Jay’s right.” Evie frowned, moving closer to get a better look. “Black leather corset, red laces, red undershirt, black miniskirt with red hemming, black tights, black knee-high combats with red laces… It’s all way too loose on you, but it looks like our clothes a little. Were you another VK brought here from the Isle?”

“No, I was born in Auradon.” Scarlet mumbled, lowering her head.

“Then I repeat, why are you dressed like that?” Mal demanded in confusion. “Why not in the peppy pastels and softer fabrics like the other Auradonians?”

“I like these clothes.” The brunette-redhead responded, twirling a strand of red and black hair. “They fit my style better than pastel.”

“Is this some kind of trend now?” Evie asked excitedly.

“I don’t think so…” Scarlet responded. “I’ve been wearing clothes like this for years. They’re mostly hand-me-downs from my mom that I’ve gotten tailored to fit me. My dad doesn’t approve, but I like them and it’s never hard finding something to wear.”

“But they’re so off when you have that bright cloak on.” The blunette told her, placing a hand on her shoulder. “And I don’t see how they fit when they’re so loose. Maybe I can tighten them for you later. Honestly though, all we have to do is get rid of the cloak and this outfit-.”

“NO!” Scarlet shouted, making Evie cringe back while Mal and Jay slid in front of her and Carlos protectively. “S-sorry, but I really like this cloak. I-it’s one of my mom’s. She says it can tame any beast and ward off woodland danger.”

“O…kay…” Mal murmured, sharing a puzzled glance with Jay. “Still, from what I’ve seen, the outfit doesn’t really seem to fit your personality, but they’re your clothes. See ya later.”

“I do love all the red though!” Jay winked at her as he passed.

“Me too.” Carlos agreed. “It’s really wicked.”

Scarlet watched them all go, quickly gathering her cloak about herself so that no one else saw. Taking a deep breath, she made her way through the hallways, heading for her own room.

“Anyway,” Mal went on, turning to watch where she was walking as she answered Jay. “Our best plan is literally the only plan we’ve got.”

“Isn’t supposed to be the other way around?” Carlos asked slowly.

“Nope, cause they’re one and the same.” Jay shrugged. “We gotta stick together and not be reckless, I guess, buddy.”

“Which means no walking through shadows just for the hell of it.” Their leader stated, glaring at Jay who sheepishly grinned back. “We have to be on guard, just in case. We’ll talk more next full moon.”

“Alright, alright.” Jay sighed as they came to a stop outside of the girls’ room. “We’ll see you ladies later and we won’t do anything reckless, okay?”

Mal stared at him for a moment before nodding. “Okay. Remember, nothing’s badder than us. We’re rotten.”

“To the core.” The other three chorused, comforted by their old motto. The two groups split and Mal unlocked the door while Evie glanced down the hallway. Entering their room, the two women went about their usual routine, Evie heading to her sewing machine as Mal flopped onto her bed. Reaching over to a bowl of fruit she had spelled to keep cool, the purplette began munching on her food. A shift in the air made her glance up to find Evie simply staring off into space, her hands folded beneath her chin contemplatively.

“What’s up, E?” Mal asked, chewing the strawberry idly.

“I’m thinking about that girl, Scarlet.” Evie murmured, tapping her chin absently. “Something about her seems so familiar.”

Mal snickered and popped another bright red fruit into her mouth, swallowing before saying, “She’s a preppy Auradonian, E. They start looking and sounding the same after a while.”

“Yes, but… that’s not it. Doesn’t that cloak look really familiar to you?” Brown eyes found gray as Mal attempted to remember hearing about or seeing the red cloak anywhere.

“I think I’m getting a vague memory, yeah.” Mal shrugged. “But it’s probably nothing. We’ve probably just seen her a lot around campus, that’s all.”

Evie continued tapping her chin, but nodded halfheartedly all the same. Still, even as she got back to her homework, she still felt the familiarity of the girl tugging at her mind, trying to force her to remember something that was just out of reach. It was almost as if a fuzzy memory was trying to force her to decipher it.

Deciding to leave it for another time, Evie resolved to create some new outfits for the second year instead. The ones she had were far too loose on her frame to even be considered properly fit and even if Evie were to tighten them, it wouldn’t do much good. _I wish I had gotten a look at the rest of her._ The blunette thought as she finished another complex problem. _Then I would be able to better know how big I should make the clothing. I guess I’ll have to wait until the next time we see her to ask. She seems to be around enough, after all._


	12. Drastic Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mysterious presence finally is revealed and Evie finally discovers the answer to her question about Scarlet.

The following day, Evie had a few sketches to carry with her for when she met up with Scarlet at any point. She hid them easily in her jacket and accompanied Mal to breakfast. The purplette shot her a curious glance, but Evie simply shook her head and Mal let it go, turning to Ben to discuss the strange presence.

“It’s been half a month.” Ben pointed out. “Don’t you think they would have come back by now?”

“I don’t know.” Mal murmured. “But I also don’t think two weeks is a long enough time for us to have let our guards down either. They might be treating us different than other people of Auradon since we’re not originally from here and have different habits.”

“Still, I find it interesting that they’ve held out this long.” Ben mused, chewing at his eggs speculatively.

“Well, it’s still best to be on guard.” His best friend reminded him. “I think after the next full moon we’ll talk about whether or not they’re still following us. After a month, it should be pretty safe again.”

“We’ll go with your plan, Mal.” The king agreed. “You have good instincts, so I trust you.” The purplette smirked at him and dug into her sausage, looking to the side to see Evie chewing at a fruit salad. As the blunette popped a strawberry in her mouth, Mal reached over and stole a quick kiss, licking her lips afterward.

“Mal, if you wanted a strawberry, all you had to do was ask.” Evie giggled.

“But why would I do that when I can just get the added bonus of kissing you?” Mal asked innocently, looking to Jay to back her up. She rolled her eyes to see him playing the pocky game with Ben and a piece of bacon.

“J-Jay, I really don’t think-.”

“Just bite the other end, Ben.” Jay urged, his eyes sparkling mischievously.

“You know you want to, Ben.” Mal chuckled, watching her best friend shoot her a shocked look before leaning over.

“You win.” He huffed, sinking his teeth into the other end of the bacon.

To everyone’s surprise, Jay let go of his end and Ben chewed at his piece, looking to his boyfriend in confusion. In the next second, Mal rolled her eyes once more and covered Evie’s as Jay fought to get that one piece of bacon back. Lonnie and Carlos fought to quiet their laughter as Audrey rolled her eyes in annoyance.

“This is a cafeteria, not a bedroom.” She grumbled, pushing her already-empty plate away in disgust. “At least _try_ to act normal!”

Jay finally succeeded in snatching back the bacon and chewed it idly, saying, “It _is_ normal to make out with someone you’re dating, Audrey.” Ben simply laid his head on the table in embarrassment, cheeks bright red.

“Come on.” Mal snickered, standing and offering a hand to her friend, Evie rising beside her. “Let’s head to class before Ben dies of mortification.”

As the group headed off, the usual pair of auburn eyes trailed after them wistfully before heading off to start their own day. It was going to be difficult working up the nerve to talk to the group that day, but they could do it. If only to ask…

With a sigh, the owner of the eyes laid their head down and checked out the window. If they had had the courage to ask days ago, they would already be on speaking terms with the group. But they were frightened of so many things going wrong. What if they made a fool of themselves? What if they looked desperate? What if the group refused them? There was so much that could be messed up within one full length conversation.

Trudging throughout the day, the figure stopped outside of the cafeteria as they often did around lunch time. Could they really do it today? If they timed it right, then the group would arrive as they were getting their food. Then all they would have to do is go over and ask to sit with them, right? It _had_ to be that simple.

Taking a deep breath, they slowly made their way into the dining hall, glancing around nervously. This was one of the reasons they hated doing this. People could instantly spot them from a mile away. But they had to. Swiftly making their way for the buffet table, the figure’s stomach growled eagerly at the prospect of finally grabbing something to eat. Unfortunately, just like always, as they were finishing filling their tray, disaster struck.

They found themselves surrounded.

Meanwhile, the villain kids were on their way toward the cafeteria. All four had just finished a goodness class review with Fairy Godmother to be sure that they were getting along well and see if there was anything they needed help with. She had been adamant that Jay not be quite as aggressive, but Evie simply reminded her of the dwarf, Grumpy, and his family. The group was still laughing over the look on her face at that revelation when they heard the unmistakable sound of Chad’s voice and other students laughing.

Mal groaned in irritation. “Is he seriously at it again? We haven’t heard anything out of him in months and now this?”

“People who bully don’t really change.” Evie said, striding toward the cafeteria.

“I changed…” the fairy grumbled, following her girlfriend with Jay and Carlos on their heels.

“Yes, but _you_ weren’t raised in Auradon.” Carlos pointed out. “No one really stands up to bullies here.”

Evie chuckled and nodded. “Honestly, if I didn’t know any better, I would think these kids’ parents were the real-.”

Chad’s voice cut her off as he shouted over the laughter coming from the large wooden doors. “What’s the matter? Aren’t you a big bad wolfie? Why not huff and puff us away?”

Evie stopped at the shouts and the others looked back at her. “E, what’s wrong?” Mal asked. “Chad’s bullying someone again; we gotta see if they need our help.”

“Big bad wolfie…” Evie whispered, brown eyes wide. “Red cloak… big bad wolfie…”

“Evie, what are you on about?” Carlos put a hand on her shoulder in slight worry. “You’re acting weird all of a sudden.”

“Scarlet… red… red cloak… big bad… Oh my Beauty!” Evie’s eyes suddenly snapped back to the present and she gazed at her three friends in shock. “Red Riding Hood!”

“What?” All three shouted, now very concerned for their friend’s mental state.

Evie took off for the cafeteria as she explained, “That’s Scarlet’s mother! I should have seen it sooner! Her mother is Red Riding Hood!”

“Whoa, whoa, wait!” Jay slid to a stop and the others paused as well. “ _The_ Little Red Riding Hood? Like, with the wolf that was killed by the huntsman and all that Granny stuff?”

“That one!” Evie agreed. “Except that’s NOT the story. In actuality, Little Red Riding Hood was in love with the big bad werewolf. The huntsman was killed during the fight, but Red Riding Hood managed to convince those in Auradon that it had been self-defense and that the Wolf had seen the error of his ways.”

“How do you know this?” Mal inquired suspiciously.

“My mom showed me some documentaries that washed ashore.” Evie told her. “Anyway, we have to help Scarlet!” And they were heading for the cafeteria again. Bursting through the doors, Jay and Mal immediately snarled angrily at what they found happening.

“Cut it out, Chad!” Scarlet screeched, pushing against the people shoving her in a circle between them. Her lunch had already been spilled, so she had no idea why they continued their torment. Tears pricked her eyes as someone else slammed their hand against her chest and pushed her back to the middle of the circle. She just wanted to find food.

“What’s the matter, Wolfie?” Chad sneered. “Afraid of some delicious humans? Why don’t you go join your murderous dad out on his hunt for more bloodshed? No one wants you here. You or this stupid, tacky cape.” He ripped the fabric from around her, the tie around Scarlet’s neck coming loose as he held it in his hands with disdain.

All in the cafeteria saw just how malnourished the young girl was in that moment. Evie’s hands flew to her mouth when she realized that Scarlet’s outfit looked too big because she barely had any body fat to speak of; her bones were prominently displayed in the patches of grayish skin visible. Mal took a closer look at the lunch on the ground and found that it was in roughly the same area as all the other times she had seen lunch spilled; gray eyes narrowed and glowed bright green in rage when she understood that Scarlet had been made to drop her lunch this entire time. Jay felt his jaw clench at seeing the small, fragile girl being pushed around; it reminded both he and Carlos of the whitette when he had been back on the island, starved and beaten.

A sudden wave of protectiveness washed over all four villain kids in that moment.

“Give it back!” Scarlet screamed, reaching for the fabric desperately. “Give it back to me! It’s mine!” Several of the students in the circle taunting her held her away from Chad as he turned the fabric over in his hands. Just from touching it, he could tell that it was definitely special. He sensed a magical aura resonating from it, all the more reason to keep it from his little chewtoy.

“I think I’ll be keeping this.” He snickered, tossing the fabric over his shoulders. “Not like a loser like you deserves it anyway. Especially not with clothes like that. What, are you trying to fit in with the villains now? I bet even they rejected a halfie like you, didn’t they? You don’t belong _anywhere_. I think I’ll keep this cloak to remind you of that.”

Scarlet immediately froze and, even at this distance, the VKs could feel a sudden shift in the air, a shift they all knew well. The feeling of danger. Moving closer cautiously, Mal stifled a gasp as Scarlet’s eyes glowed a bright angry red. Claws began growing from her hands as pitch black and bright red fur began blooming all along her body. Her ears slowly moved up her head as she focused solely on Chad.

“I said, give it back to me!” Scarlet roared, fully shifting right then and there, her corset straining to contain her suddenly barrel-like chest, her tights ripping completely and her boots fighting to control the paws now filling them. Drool dripped from an angry growling snout as Scarlet stalked closer to the trembling prince, all of the other kids fleeing as they had never seen this happen before. Bearing down on Chad, Scarlet opened her large jaws and let out a horrific mix between a roar and a howl, the sound bouncing off the walls and echoing in the large room.

The entire cafeteria froze in terror, waiting for the creature’s next move with bated breath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I COULD have made Chad a redeemable jerk, like I usually do Audrey... but I didn't.


	13. Roles Reversed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The VKs rescue Scarlet, Chad gets in trouble and the group makes Scarlet feel better. Or conversely... I fucking hate Chad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No seriously, if you thought I hated Audrey, at least I make her redeemable to a degree in my writing. I can't freaking stand Chad. He made my blue-haired baby cry.

Advancing on the blonde prince, Scarlet felt a sudden pang of hunger slash through her stomach, the growling sound loud enough for the entire hall to hear. The wolf doubled over, both paws clutching her stomach in pain as she whimpered pitifully. _Eat him._ A voice whispered in her mind. _He is food. It will be delicious._ Powerless against the voice and wanting to sate the hunger in her belly, Scarlet began advancing on Chad, teeth bared as she tried to figure out the best way to pounce.

It was about then that Mal, Jay, Evie, and Carlos all raced in front of Chad, arms thrown out defensively. “Wait a minute, Scarlet!” Mal ordered, stepping forward while remaining in her defensive crouch. “This isn’t something you want to do.”

“Take it from us, the Isle of the Lost is _not_ a place you want to end up!” Jay added, making up for the space Mal had left open.

“Like you care!” Scarlet snarled, her jaws working feverishly to produce the movements that were foreign to normal wolves. “You don’t care that these jerks have been making my life hell since I got here, just like no one else in this stupid school cares. I’m hungry _all the time_. I get stepped all over every day and I’m _sick of it!_ I want food and I want my cloak back! _Now!_ ”

“We get that, we get that!” Carlos shouted, Mal motioning to Evie, who immediately stepped on Chad’s foot and made him drop the cloak into her waiting hands. “And we’re sorry we didn’t know that this was happening. We didn’t even realize who you were until moments ago!”

“And now I’m going to have to give you something for protecting me from getting expelled, right?” Scarlet huffed, dropping to four paws and looking more like a sulking puppy than a larger than average wolf. It didn’t help that her lack of health was just as prominent in this form despite the fur covering her. “It’s what any other Auradonian would do.”

“No, no, no!” Evie cried, making her way forward. “We’re not Auradonian. See? It’s yours, so you get it.” She laid the cloak on the ground and waited for Scarlet’s reaction.

Red eyes flicked up to narrow on Mal and the large wolf growled, “No tricks?”

“No tricks.” Mal promised. “It’s yours, fair and square.”

Slowly, Scarlet took deep breaths, her chest rising and falling evenly as she closed her eyes to focus. Finally, she shrank back down to her proper size and form, kneeling to lift the cloak from the ground, still eyeing everyone around her warily. Just as she secured the cloak around her shoulders, a commotion lit the hallway and everyone could hear Fairy Godmother’s voice coming closer.

“If anyone spills a word, I will make certain there is no end to your detention!” Mal snarled to all those around, her eyes glowing bright green and making them cower even lower in their seats. Evie threw a protective arm around Scarlet as Carlos and Jay stood in front of them menacingly, ready to step in if things seemed to be going badly for the werewolf.

“What is all of the commotion?” Fairy Godmother shouted, storming into the cafeteria to see all of the students sulking around the tables. Eyes zeroing in on the villain kids, she spotted the splash of red hiding with them and cocked her head. “Mal, care to tell me exactly what went on?”

“My friends and I came to the defense of a helpless student because the anti-bullying program at this school is abysmal.” Mal replied nonchalantly, crossing her arms and glaring back at the elder fairy.

“Excuse me?” Fairy Godmother blinked in surprise and a bit of pride. “You… _came to the defense of another student?_ You four?”

“Well, it was the _right_ thing to do.” Jay snorted contemptuously. “Funny how the kids of the villains had to save an innocent from the torment of the supposed heroes, am I right?” Despite the playful tone with which he said it, Jay’s eyes were dark with the rage boiling inside of him.

Fairy Godmother shifted uncomfortably, catching the implication in the air like everyone else. Clearing her throat awkwardly, she murmured, “Yes, well, what were they doing?”

“Oh, you know, typical bully stuff.” Carlos piped in. “Pushing her around, laughing at her, _starving her_ , stealing her stuff, that kind of thing.”

Fairy Godmother’s expression became pained, her eyes finding Scarlet wrapped in Evie’s embrace. Her face did look far gaunter than the headmistress remembered it being when they were first introduced. It made her heart ache to know that she had possibly been putting the _wrong_ people through goodness lessons this whole time. Her voice sounded strained as she asked, “And, er, who are the perpetrators?”

“No idea.” Mal shrugged. “Everyone in this whole room was watching it happen and not doing anything about it. We got here as they were scattering.”

“Except _this one,_ of course.” Jay intoned, roughly pulling Chad closer by the collar. Fairy Godmother’s eyes darkened furiously and she sighed.

“I should have known you would be the ringleader of this, Mr. Charming. My office, now.”

“It’s not like you can do more than give me detention.” Chad grumbled, trudging for the door.

“Actually, had Miss Scarlet hurt someone while in her uncontrolled state, I would have the grounds to expel you.” Fairy Godmother snapped, following him out. “All of you should keep that in mind when bullying someone. I thought you would have learned after our transfers arrived. Miss Scarlet, I will see to it that this is highly improbable of happening to you again.”

Now, everyone turned to the group still standing in the middle of the cafeteria. Carlos and Jay had taken to glaring at everyone around them, muttering threats in every direction as Evie knelt a tearful Scarlet to the ground. Mal moved closer, squatting beside the pair of them. “Thank you.” Scarlet sniffed. “I don’t know what I would have done if I had been expelled. My dad is off in some forest somewhere and… and my mom’s… gone…”

“Whoa, you don’t have anywhere to go outside of Auradon Prep?” Carlos asked, jaw slack as he whirled to face her.

“Not unless I want to transform and just live in the forests.” Scarlet responded. “I’ve never killed anything before. I don’t even know how to hunt. I would never survive.”

“Well, lucky you, you have us.” Mal smirked, reaching out a hand and helping the pair to their feet. “If we’d known sooner that everyone here was a jerk to you, we wouldn’t have been so hard on you. Where were you when we first arrived, anyway?”

“I was hiding and slipping through shadows to remain unnoticed.” Scarlet muttered, allowing the VKs to lead her to a table. One glare had the inhabitants already there scurrying to be anywhere else and the quintet sat down. “I knew it wouldn’t be long before they got tired of poking a dragon and came back. A-ah, no offense! I-it’s a saying my mom always said-.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Mal chuckled. “Besides, it’s not too far from the truth. I just haven’t fully controlled myself in dragon form. We’re working on it.”

“So how long have those jerks been targeting you?” Carlos inquired, eyeing the lunch line.

“Since I arrived last year.” Scarlet replied, also gazing hungrily over at the line. “As soon as they found out I was a ‘halfie’, they pulled out all the stops short of taking my cloak. Until today anyway.”

“What’s a halfie?” Evie asked curiously, gazing at her as she cuddled against Mal.

Here, Scarlet blushed. “It’s used in two different circumstances here in Auradon.” She mumbled. “The one that pertains to me is basically a person that is not completely human due to their parent mating with someone magical or mythical or just… against ‘the norm’ or whatever.”

“So… Mal, Evie, and I would count as halfies?” Jay snickered.

“Huh?” Scarlet perked up at this, eyes bright with curiosity.

“Well, Mal’s obviously half fairy, Evie can make potions and do spells like her mom and my dad was a freaking wizard, so I can do limited magic… for now.”

“That… makes me feel a little better.” Scarlet hummed. “Usually, I only see Doug as another halfie like me, but I… don’t hang out with him.”

“Why not?” Evie’s smile fell. “He’s a nice guy…”

“I don’t want him going through more crap just for hanging with me.” Scarlet looked away awkwardly. “D-do you mind if I ask a question?”

Immediately, all walls were thrown up, all four of them guarded. “Depends on what it is.”

“How do you… keep the darkness at bay?” Scarlet bit her lip, waiting for them to get angry with her.

“Like… the part of us raised by our parents?” Carlos clarified.

“Y-yeah. How do you push it back?”

“Find something you love to do and do it.” Jay shrugged, glancing to the cafeteria doors as they opened and grinning at the sight of his boyfriend. Ben beamed and strode over with their other friends on his heels. The group paused, however, when they spotted the red-cloaked girl sitting with the villain kids.

“What is _she_ doing here?” Audrey sniffed, glaring down at Scarlet and making the younger girl shrink in her seat.

Instantly, all of the VKs became defensive, returning Audrey’s glare forty-fold. “Back off, would you?” Mal snarled. “Not everything revolves around your perfect, prissy world, Audrey. Unlike you, we help people whose lives are crap.”

“Whoa, Mal.” Ben chuckled, settling beside Jay and pecking his boyfriend’s cheek. “Retract your claws; it’s Audrey.” Mal huffed and muttered something like ‘that’s the problem’. “So, what _is_ she doing here?”

“She’s sitting right there.” Evie said sharply. “Why not _ask?_ ”

“Uh, right.” Ben turned to the girl hiding beneath her hood and held out his hand. “Hey, I’m Ben. You probably already know that from the coronation.”

“I couldn’t attend.” Scarlet whispered, shaking his hand quickly. “I’m Scarlet.”

“Ooh!” Lonnie gasped. “You’re Red Riding Hood’s daughter, aren’t you? The one with the werewolf for a dad?” Scarlet visibly cringed and simply stared down at the table. “No, I didn’t mean to offend you! I think it’s pretty neat that they were allowed to stay in Auradon. Your dad must be really protective-.” Scarlet cringed again. Lonnie was flailing for something that wouldn’t make the red and black-haired girl burst into tears. “So what brings you to our table?”

All of the VKs relaxed as did Scarlet. “Well, Chad was being his usual douchey self.” Mal sighed in annoyance. “He took her cloak and caused her to transform. Had we not stepped in, he would have been shredded to ribbons along with the rest of the cafeteria.”

“Actually, I was going to eat him.” Scarlet mumbled halfheartedly. “I’m so hungry…”

“Good thing you four were here then.” Ben grinned. “It would be a shame to lose someone so nice because of a jerk like Chad.”

“Look, I can’t take this anymore.” Jay finally groaned, he, Carlos and, surprisingly, Scarlet all standing. “I’m going to go grab food for us all.” The other two murmured agreement and the trio disappeared into the line.

Once Scarlet was, supposedly, out of earshot, Ben turned to Mal worriedly. “How bad was it?”

“They were tormenting her worse than when _we_ first arrived, Ben.” Mal huffed, stroking Evie’s hair to keep calm. “It doesn’t help that _some people_ ,” Two nasty glares from Evie and Mal were shot in Audrey’s direction, “don’t know how to _not judge others based on their parents._ She was ready to cry and they made her spill her lunch. Then Chad took her cloak and she got angry.”

“Like, _really_ angry.” Evie added.

“She transformed and did this really wicked howl-roar thing.” Mal continued. “She looked ready to rip him apart, which I would _not_ have argued with either. But we jumped in and got the cloak back and got her to transform so that Chad took the fall like he should. Doesn’t stop me from wanting to get the several people around here that helped or simply ignored what happened.”

“I’m sorry things like this keep happening.” Ben sighed. “Honestly, the Big Bad Wolf hasn’t even done anything but attack a couple of obscure people and cause general mayhem. He doesn’t hunt humans often and usually keeps to the forests.”

“They were attacking her because she was _different_ , Ben.” Evie told him, lifting her head from Mal’s shoulder to level the king with a pointed stare. “The people of this kingdom have gotten so fond of conformity that they don’t know how to cope with something different or some kind of change. It makes one wonder exactly _how_ it functioned as an actual kingdom. Was there _any_ individuality before we arrived?”

“Not much, but I’m slowly working to change that.” Ben assured her. “Anyway, thanks for helping her.”

“It was the right thing to do.” Mal shrugged. “We’re here because we’re supposed to be being good. Helping a student escape from the likes of a jerk like Chad falls into that category.”

“Thanks, Mal.” Ben grinned, watching as Jay and Carlos piled Scarlet’s plate high, insisting that she needed to eat.

Mal and Evie glanced over to their friends as well and Evie shook her head with a sigh. “We’re going to have to share food with her.” The blunette murmured. “She hasn’t eaten properly in months. She’ll get sick eating all of that.”

“I don’t mind sharing.” Mal smirked. “It’ll be like back on the island when we had to split moldy bread together.”

The Auradonians all cringed, still not quite used to the thought of how the food was on the Isle of the Lost. They hadn’t thought food had been that bad until Evie explained it to them in great detail. Ben had been working on a solution to rectify the problem ever since, especially after Audrey lost her lunch at the mention of rotting veggies.

After a little bit, the trio came back and Mal motioned for Scarlet to sit between Evie and herself while her girlfriend gave an explanation of why they were taking some of her food. Scarlet nodded in understanding, but simply sat to stare at the food. The others shifted and Evie reiterated that they weren’t taking _all_ of her food. “No, I… I understood.” Scarlet stared at the food again. “I just… I haven’t eaten anything other than leftover animal carcasses and forest greenery in months.” The other Auradonians cringed once more, equating that kind of diet to the same the villain kids had before coming to the mainland. “I… this is real food.”

“Well, get your taste buds used to it.” Mal ordered, reaching for a steak near the top of the plate. “No point in letting good food go to waste. You do that and it’ll just end up on the Isle.”

“Okay! I’m done eating!” Audrey stated, throwing her hands up.

“But you don’t have a plate.” Carlos pointed out.

“If I was going to get one, I’m certainly not now, with you five talking about your disgusting, yucky, nasty island food and forest food. Ugh! Gross…” She sat back in her chair and crossed her arms with a pout.

The villain kids all shrugged it off and motioned for Scarlet to eat. One bite from a fried chicken leg sparked the brunette-redhead’s taste buds and her eyes glowed a bright red. Mal noticed the change and immediately caught Evie’s hand from grabbing a grape as Scarlet dove for the food ravenously. The entire cafeteria watched in awed horror as the food disappeared within minutes, Jay dropping his burger from its buns as he watched. Once the food was finished, Scarlet licked her lips and reached for a napkin, hiccupping slightly.

“Alright…” Evie amended. “Werewolf stomachs are different than human stomachs. No need to hold back.”

“I think I’ll go grab another plate.” Scarlet chirped, bounding back to the buffet. Mal noticed that her cloak slipped from her shoulders and sighed.

“We’re going to have to tell the kitchens to make more food…” she told Ben softly, watching as a large wolf practically devoured the rest of the buffet.

“A _lot_ more.” Lonnie added.


End file.
